A woman who was kept at Mt Carmel Hospital to recover from drugs managed to make arrangements to procure heroin when she was taken to court under escort, a court heard.

Roberta Mulvaney, 27 of Kalkara was sentenced to seven months imprisonment and fined €750 after having been convicted of involvement in the procurement of the heroin.

The court heard that the case happened on July 6, 2005 when the accused was being treated for drug addiction at Mt Carmel Hospital.

She shared a room with another young woman, also a drug addict. The other woman learned that he accused was being taken to court and therefore gave her €20 and asked her to try to procure heroin.

Ms Mulvaney was taken to court escorted by a nurse and a social worker, but she still managed to make contact with someone (who remained unidentified) and arranged with him to deposit heroin on a window sill of female ward one at Mt Carmel.

She handed him the money, but the delivery was not made.

The hospital room mate managed to procure heroin from another source the next day and the two patients shared it until their lighter stopped working.