Jurors in the week-long trial of a man accused of importing 2.2 kilograms of cocaine are expected to retire to deliberate today.

Norman Bezzina, 56, from Żebbuġ, is pleading not guilty to conspiring to import, importing and possession of 2.2 kilos of cocaine allegedly sent through the post from Canada in April 2001.

The prosecution, led by lawyer Aaron Bugeja, from the Attorney General’s Office, holds that Mr Bezzina was the mastermind behind the cocaine importation. The defence, namely lawyers Emmanuel Mallia and Arthur Azzopardi, claim the main witnesses were all inconsistent and lied.

Dr Mallia referred in particular to the testimony of Simon Xuereb, who claimed Mr Bezzina had approached him to begin importing drugs. The lawyer said if one were to carry out a lie detection test on this witness, the machine would explode.

None of the main witnesses was credible and they had all changed their versions between the first time they spoke to the police in 2001, through the previous court proceedings and in the trial this week, Dr Mallia said. In rebuttal, Dr Bugeja told the jurors not to miss the wood for the trees and to look at the whole picture, which pointed towards Mr Bezzina’s guilt.

When one looked back at the trial, the defence did a good job of painting the witnesses as inconsistent, as liars and as conspiring against the accused, he said. However, there was no reason for the witnesses to tell lies about the facts of the case, especially about the details, and this was where the prosecution had proved its case according to law.