A man who kicked the drug habit since he was caught with heroin in 2011 was yesterday sentenced to 18 months in prison after a court noted he could have prepared 660 sachets given the amount found in his possession.

Jonathan Bonello, 34, from Attard, was found with the drugs on Boxing Day in 2011. He has since started a drug rehabilitation programme, which he has just successfully completed.

Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras said she still could not ignore the fact that he was caught with more than 66 grams of heroin which, if sold, could have caused serious damage to society.

Clearing him of drug trafficking, as no evidence to this effect was produced in court, the magistrate found Mr Bonello guilty of possession of heroin denoting it was not for his personal use.

It resulted in court that Mr Bonello was seen approaching Mario John Debono who, the police found, was carrying a sachet of heroin. Mr Debono denied that he had purchased the drug from Mr Bonello but when the suspect was arrested and his house searched, 66.49 grams of heroin in three sachets were found. Several plastic sachets, three weighing scales and €1,710 in cash were also found.

In his statement to the police, the accused admitted he was addicted to heroin and his mother told the court he had been an addict for the past seven years.

The defence argued that the heroin was for his personal use but the court said no evidence had been produced to support this by, for example, showing how much heroin he consumed every day.

In a pre-sentencing report, Mr Bonello’s probation officer said that the accused had managed to kick the habit and was submitting regular urine samples.

Magistrate Galea Sciberras pointed out that, despite such good news, the court could not ignore the fact that the accused had a quantity of drugs. She therefore sentenced him to 18 months in jail, fined him €2,500 and ordered him to pay almost €2,000 in court expenses.

Police Inspector Herman Mula prosecuted.