Suspended jail term for heroin possession

A 29-year-old man has been given a four-month jail term suspended for 18 months and fined Lm400 after a magistrate found him guilty of the repeated possession of heroin.

Magistrate Lawrence Quintano found Veen Johannes Marines, of Birkirkara, guilty of the simple possession of the drug but cleared him of trafficking in heroin on and before February 1999.

The magistrate heard how the police had arrested a woman making use of drugs and who told the police she had bought drugs from Mr Marines. But when she testified in court the woman said she did not recall telling the police she had bought drugs from Mr Marines. She did not recognise him and said she did not even know him.

In light of this, the magistrate cleared Mr Marines of trafficking in heroin but found him guilty of the possession of the drug.

Police Inspector Norbert Ciappara prosecuted.