A man accused of selling drugs to a young woman who died of an overdose told a jury today that it was all lies and a “mafia game” drawn up to frame him.

Lawrence Attard, known as L-Għawdxi, denied ever selling heroin to 20-year-old Therese Agius, and, in his testimony, accused the son of his former girlfriend, Simon Chircop.

Mr Attard was testifying before Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano in the trial by jury of Joseph Azzopardi, 40, of Tarxien who is facing a trial by jury in which he is pleading not guilty to the murder of Ms Agius and trafficking in heroin on October 1, 1999.

The prosecution claims Mr Azzopardi injected Ms Agius with the drug, at her request, in the Gżira apartment she rented to prostitute herself. The girl overdosed and the accused allegedly tied her up and threw her body into the sea.

Before testifying, Mr Justice Quintano warned Mr Attard that he could refuse to speak because he was facing separate criminal charges for drug trafficking.

However, Mr Attard insisted on testifying, saying that he felt hurt at all the lies that were written in the newspapers.

“I’m accused of drug trafficking because Pawlu Micallef said Therese and himself bought drugs from me,” he told the court.

Mr Micallef, a friend of the victim, had told the police that on the fateful night he bought a sachet of heroin from Mr Attard while Ms Agius had bought three.

However, Mr Attard denied ever selling the drugs to the two, saying these were all “lies” because it was his girlfriend at the time, Philippa Chircop, and her son Simon who sold the heroin.

“These are all lies – this is a mafia game between the police, Philippa, her son and Pawlu,” he said.

Mr Attard said Ms Agius had a drug addiction problem and used to buy it from the flat he used to share with Ms Chircop and her son.

He said Ms Chircop used to keep the drugs in a handbag which was kept by another woman in another block.

However, while in a separate testimony, Ms Chircop confirmed her previous police statements where she said that Ms Agius and Ms Micallef had bought the drugs from Mr Attard.