Justice Minister Owen Bonnici does not plan to pardon the recently jailed reformed drug addict whose case he used to illustrate the realities behind “exaggerated” court delays.

“I am not interested in granting individual pardons. My aim is to give new tools to the courts to assist genuine victims of drugs,” Dr Bonnici told Times of Malta.

Earlier this month, Dr Bonnici read out in Parliament an e-mail sent by the reformed addict, who was locked up for six months over a crime committed nine years before.

In the e-mail, the man called for a review of the system, which he felt had failed him and his family. Dr Bonnici publicly apologised to the 32-year-old, who had since rebuilt his life and was helping addicts.

The man told this newspaper he feared he would be sucked back into addiction and miss the birth of his first child while in jail.

I used his case as an example

He was convicted of heroin trafficking – he was found sharing a gram of the drug with a friend in 2005 – and imprisoned after having been clean for more than five years.

Opposition home affairs spokesman Jason Azzopardi on Wednesday questioned why Dr Bonnici chose to read out that particular e-mail and questioned whether the minister planned to pardon the man.

He said that, while court delays were undoubtedly wrong, the minister should not play with people’s emotions.

Dr Bonnici pointed out yesterday that the man had appealed the jail term. He said he had only read out the e-mail to show how exaggerated court delays had worked against a man who had changed his ways.

“I used his case as an example to explain to the public the reality out there and what these people have to go through because of delays,” Dr Bonnici said.