A judge has accepted a man’s request to be tried by a Magistrate’s Court rather than face a trial by jury, after noting his “minor and limited” role in the importation of cocaine into Malta.

Madam Justice Edwina Grima’s decision effectively means that Antonio Gatt will now face a much more lenient punishment since a magistrate can only impose a jail term of not more than 12 years.

Mr Gatt had allegedly formed part of a drug importation criminal ring led by convicted criminal Norman Bezzina. The case is over the importation of more than 2.2 kilograms of cocaine from Canada.

The investigation into Mr Bezzina, Mr Gatt and his brother Lawrence, started in 2001, after a packet of cocaine was intercepted in the mail.

The accused’s role in the operation was simply that of a courier – a minor and limited one

Mr Bezzina’s right-hand man, Simon Xuereb, had been imprisoned for his part in the crime and even Lawrence Gatt was convicted over the drug importation.

The men had been arrested in May that year after a controlled delivery of the packet, which had been noted as containing cocaine.

Antonio Gatt had been a security driver at Malta Freeport in charge of collecting the mail. He had been approached by his brother, Lawrence Gatt, and Norman Bezzina to collect a packet arriving from Canada and had used family contacts in the Customs Department to collect the packets, which had been marked as containing car parts.

The accused had always denied knowing that the packets contained drugs and also maintained he did not know Mr Bezzina or Mr Xuereb.

Antonio Gatt filed an application before the Criminal Court in which he requested that proceedings against him on charges of complicity in the importation and possession of cocaine be judged by the Court of Magistrates.

This is a right granted through the 2014 amendments to the Criminal Code whereby people accused of a crime that could be judged by a magistrate may file a request. This effectively translates into a much lower maximum sentence.

Madam Justice Grima ruled that Antonio Gatt was not involved in the distribution or sale of the drugs.

The accused’s role in the operation was simply that of a courier, which she described as a “minor and limited” one, as it had appeared that he was under the instructions of his brother Lawrence, without being aware of the scale of the drug operation.

Lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Joe Giglio appeared for Mr Gatt.

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