Reformed drug pusher gets minimum jail term

Stanley Chircop was yesterday jailed for two years and 11 months for trafficking in cocaine 10 years ago after a judge considered the jurors' plea for clemency and noted that the accused had completed a drug rehabilitation programme and was helping others overcome their addiction.

Mr Chircop, 38, was charged with trafficking in cocaine and heroin and their possession in 1997 and 1998.

After deliberating for nine and a half hours, jurors reached a verdict at 2 a.m. yesterday, finding him guilty by eight votes to one of possession of heroin, six votes to three of trafficking in cocaine and unanimously guilty of possession of heroin.

He was found not guilty, by seven votes to two, of trafficking in heroin.

The jurors then stood up one by one each asking Mr Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo for clemency. One of the jurors said it took the Attorney General nine years to get Mr Chircop to trial and this was far too long.

In his judgment delivered at about 7 p.m., Mr Justice Caruana Demajo said he could not ignore the jurors' plea for clemency adding, however, that the law did not allow him to hand down a judgment below the minimum, a probation order or a suspended sentence in such a case.

He noted that about 10 years had passed since the commission of the crime and that, in the meantime, Mr Chircop had completed a drug rehabilitation programme and was helping others out of their problem. One could not, however, ignore the fact that he had broken the law and society could not be given a message that one could commit a crime and not face the consequences.

Mr Justice Caruana Demajo noted that Mr Chircop faced a jail term ranging between four and 30 years. In this case, given the various charges he was found guilty of, the minimum jail term was that of four years and four months. This could be reduced by two thirds when one considered that he had completed a rehabilitation programme. For this reason, the judge took on board the jurors' plea for clemency and handed down the minimum jail term allowed by law: two years and 11 months.

He also fined Mr Chircop €2,562 (Lm1,100), which he would pay after serving time and ordered that the time spent in preventive custody be deducted from his jail term.

Finally, the judge ordered the confiscation of all Mr Chircop's assets.

After the judgment was read out, lawyer Joseph Brincat, for Mr Chircop, asked the court to make a recommendation to the prison authorities to allow Mr Chircop to immediately start a rehabilitation programme without first having to spend six months in jail, as was prison policy. The judge upheld the request given that, as was declared by a probation officer, although Mr Chircop had completed a rehabilitation programme he still needed more attention.

Lawyer Aaron Bugeja, from the Attorney General's office, prosecuted.