Two years ago Derek Saliba was a cross-dressing prostitute caught in the clutches of drug addiction.

Abused at a young age, he was an active member of the local gay community and had been financially crippled by a 10-year heroin and cocaine addiction.

“I was at rock bottom. I was completely addicted to drugs and had resorted to selling my body for cash. I even had to dress as a woman to sustain my habit,” he said.

In 2012, however, Mr Saliba managed to drag himself out of addiction and claims the controversial evangelist movement River of Love, “delivered him from the devil’s spell”.

Despite this, he believes he kicked his decade-long addiction after just one spiritual encounter.

“I stopped the drugs there and then and did not experience any withdrawal symptoms,” he said, adding that he was now on the straight and narrow.

The subject will be among those discussed on TimesTalk on TVM this evening