A court upheld a request for a drug-related case to be judged by a magistrate and not a jury after the Criminal Court ruled that it had not received the results of tests identifying the substances or the amounts of drugs found.

Ryan Callus was allegedly found in possession of 470 ecstasy pills, 97 grams of cocaine and 87 grams of mephedrone.

He would have faced a potential maximum sentence of life imprisonment had he been tried before the Criminal Court. However, Mr Callus will now be tried before the Magistrates’ Court.

Mr Callus’s defence lawyers Franco Debono, Arthur Azzopardi and Amadeo Cachia submitted to the court that the amount of drugs involved was closer to the competence of the magistrates’ court, as set out in the new drug sentencing guidelines. The Magistratoes’ Court can only award prison sentences ranging between six months and four years.

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