Jailed over drugs on basis of admission, not hard evidence

A 30-year-old man who admitted to trafficking in ecstasy even though none was found on him by the police was jailed for two months yesterday.

The police were led to Generoso Barbara during investigations into ecstasy pills trafficking in 2002. They called him in for questioning and he admitted to buying the pills and selling them to friends.

Even though no drugs were ever found on him, at his home or anywhere connected to him and even though he was not a drug abuser, as testified by his probation officer, Carmen Nygaard, the police prosecuted on the strength of his statement.

Mr Barbara had told the police that in March 2002 he had been using the drug for about a year-and-a-half and would sometimes sell to friends at the same price he would purchase the pills. He said he had sold drugs on six occasions to his friends before being questioned by the police.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri told the court this was a case of sharing between friends and that their client had not made a cent of profit from selling the pills.

But Magistrate Lawrence Quintano said he could not accept such a line of defence because it was clear Mr Barbara had sold drugs to friends.

Before handing down judgment, the court took into consideration the fact that Mr Barbara had a clean police record and that the probation officers had issued a positive report.

Mr Barbara was also fined €234.

Police Inspector Victor Aquilina prosecuted.