I’ll start with the case of the 45-year-old Briton Richard Paxton, who committed suicide in custody earlier this year. I’ve not been privy to the inquiry, but I do have my own theories as to why his and other suicides – all drug-charge related – occur. The competence, or otherwise, of the Home Affairs Minister, is not the issue here.
Still, when someone resorts to taking his own life, whether before or after trial, even if he may have sold drugs, the Maltese generally go berserk. Everybody – the Opposition especially – is suddenly enraged and clamouring for answers. Inquiries are the order of the day and there’s a palpable sense of remorse within the community. A feeling that the State has in some way been an accomplice, or at any rate, has failed the wretched man.
Were that same man to have lived, the humane and compassionate card is rarely – if at all – played. We know now that someone who has spent the past 15-plus years wasting away in a prison cell on drug-related charges will not elicit the same outpouring of grief.
Godfrey Ellul may not have committed suicide but his life has still been sucked out of him by his monumentally poor life choices and the rigours of prison. He is now certified as terminally ill and very close to the end. It seems you have to put a noose around your neck and stop breathing for the powers-that-be to want to discover reasons to help you. We’re so much better at inquiries after the fact.
There probably isn’t a person in Malta who hasn’t seen a picture of Ellul wearing boxer shorts and a bandage. I last saw him five or six months ago in prison, with his clothes on, and I was shocked – jaw-droppingly so.
So shocked, that the person I was visiting, an inmate serving a 35-year sentence for homicide, registered my reaction and immediately stopped talking about his case and launched into all the reasons – medical and compassionate – why Ellul should be released. Yes, there is honour (and compassion) among murderers and thieves. But very little in the online community.
Let’s get down to brass tacks.
We need a fairer, more functional system that makes compassionate release a real possibility
In 2002, after standing trial for drug-related charges, Ellul was sentenced by the Criminal Court to 20 years imprisonment, fined Lm20,000 (€46,587) and ordered to forfeit all his movable and immovable property. The drug haul that had led to this rather harsh sentence was actually minimal: about 6.5g of heroin and 3.9g of cocaine. An undoubtedly excessive and inflated sentence. In 2005, the Court of Appeal agreed that the sentence was disproportionate, and reduced the 20 years to nine and the fine to Lm12,000 (€27,960).
Of course, nine years is still pretty steep, especially since the same haul before the Court of Magistrates would have attracted less punishment and prison time. Which is why, when people comment about drug cases and reel off clichés like ‘don’t do the crime, if you can’t do the time’, I realise they have absolutely no idea what they are talking about.
Time (sentencing time) is the operative word here. As far as I am concerned, sentencing inconsistency (different sentences handed out for the same crime) and punishment uncertainty (identical offenders tried in different courts where punishment latitudes vary considerably) are the most dangerous aspects of our drug laws. They’re so dangerous they can drive a certain kind of person – like Paxton – over the edge. Now, that’s the sort of enquiry that would interest me…
Both Paxton’s and Ellul’s cases would have hinged on third parties saying they bought drugs from them. That doesn’t necessarily make those people victims, it merely makes them informers who want to benefit from a reduced sentence.
It’s usually the only way the police can successfully prosecute drug cases further up the supply chain. Which makes Paxton and Ellul, just another couple of middlemen, caught in the vicious drug circle, and no better or worse than other ‘victims’.
Ellul was essentially a sick junkie, who, like many, dabbled and dealt and had a history of drug abuse spanning a number of years. That’s why it’s called a drug habit. If you peddled drugs between 1996 and 1999, chances are that between 2000 and 2001 you did the same.
After being tried and found guilty by the Criminal Court in 2002, and while serving a reduced nine-year prison sentence, Ellul was tried for a second time on drug charges already in existence before his original sentence. He was once again found guilty by the same court and the same judge, and sentenced to a further 18 years imprisonment and a fine of Lm18,000 (€41,940).
So Ellul is serving a 27-year prison sentence (I know of murderers who are serving less time) for being a junkie and selling drugs to people who wanted to buy them.
I don’t know of anyone who breaks into your flat and forces drugs down your throat. Unlike theft, murder, paedophilia and most one-way crimes in which real victims have no choice, drug crimes tend to involve two-way choices, and very clear and distinct choices. We may as well close supermarkets and bars because they sell death-dealing alcohol.
Ellul hasn’t committed suicide but he has had to pay a very high price. Dying in prison is a sentence too far. There was a moment when the Opposition could have stepped in but they didn’t. Not even kicking a political football. And now Ellul has lost his parole. Only the President can do the humane thing and let Ellul go. He’s done his time this side of eternity.
He poses no danger and needs to make his peace. If we mean what we say and want to spare people like Paxton their suicides, we also need to be compassionate with people who are alive, like Ellul. We need a fairer, more functional system that makes compassionate release a real possibility.
michelaspiteri@gmail.com