Barman jailed for drug possession

A 29-year-old barman was yesterday jailed for seven years and fined €14,000 after jurors found him guilty of possessing one kilogramme of cannabis with the intent to traffic.

The jury returned a 6-3 guilty verdict after five hours of deliberation in a trial which saw Owen Bonnici facing up to 30 years in jail.

Mr Bonnici used to run the Qormi football club bar where he was arrested after drugs were found behind the bar under the cash box on June 15, 2004.

Friends testified that after playing football they would leave their bags behind the bar including their wallets, keys and personal belongings as they used to trust him. Their testimony corroborated his version of events as he said that the drugs were not his but were put there by the late Victor Magri, a man with a criminal record, who, he alleged, had placed the packet, in which the drugs were found, behind the bar shortly before the police raided the place.

Mr Magri, a man well known with the police for his involvement in drug cases, was murdered just five months after the arrest. He was an avid Qormi club supporter and had built up quite a relationship with Mr Bonnici over three months.

In submissions on punishment, defence lawyer Joseph Giglio asked the court to take into consideration the fact that his client had a clean police record and that the jurors had found him guilty with the minimum of votes required by law.

Lawyer Aaron Bugeja, from the Attorney General's Office, asked the court to give a sentence that struck a balance between justice and sending out a message to the public.

Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono presided over the trial.