I tried heroin for the experience, teenager says

A teenager charged with stealing a car stereo yesterday told a magistrate how he first tried heroin about a year and a half ago because he saw his friends do drugs and wanted to see what it was all about.

"I would have never thought how difficult it would be to stop," 19-year-old Lineker David Micallef told Magistrate Silvio Meli from the dock.

Mr Micallef, of Birkirkara, spoke at his arraignment when he pleaded not guilty to stealing a car stereo on Tuesday to the detriment of Josephine Scerri, relapsing and committing the crime during the operative time of a suspended jail term.

Lawyer Chris Cardona, for Mr Micallef, made a request for bail which was opposed by Police Inspector Michael Mallia.

The inspector explained that Mr Micallef had a drug addiction problem and, in light of the psychological state he was in at the time, he could not be trusted on bail.

The officer added that it would be more appropriate that Mr Micallef be held in a place where he could be supervised.

The magistrate asked the teenager why he had started taking drugs.

The teenager replied that, although it was his fault, he first tried drugs because he saw his friends do so and wanted to see what it was all about.

Magistrate Meli also heard the boy's mother, in tears, explain how she was shattered by what was happening to her son as she had raised him well and cherished him.

She said she did not want her son to be jailed but, if he had to be detained somewhere to overcome his habit, so be it.

In light of the circumstances, Magistrate Meli turned down the request for bail at this stage and ordered the director of prison to take any necessary action that would put Mr Micallef on the road to rehabilitation.