A 31-year-old man has been jailed for 10 months after he was found guilty of selling cannabis from a Gżira pastizzeria where he worked.

Matthew Mifsud, from Ħamrun, was identified as a drug supplier after the police caught another man, Godwin Galea, with a small piece of cannabis resin found hidden in a packet of cigarettes on October 27, 2007.

He was searched as he left Sphinx Pastizzeria in Gżira, which the Drug Squad was monitoring.

When the police raided the shop, Mr Mifsud was caught with a concoction of drugs including cannabis resin and eight doses of LSD, while a search at his house yielded cannabis grass and amphetamine powder.

Mr Galea told the police he had gone to buy cannabis from “Matthew tal-pastizzi” for €23. He said he had been buying cannabis resin from Mr Mifsud since August.

But when he testified in court, Mr Galea said he could not remember the name of the person who had supplied the cannabis and neither could he remember the name of the pastizzi shop. In court, he even said he did not recognise the accused.

During his interrogation, Mr Mifsud refused to reply to any questions and also refused to testify in court.

Handing down her judgment, Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras ruled that while Mr Galea’s testimony in court could not be deemed credible, the statements he made to the police and to the inquiring magistrate were enough to prove that Mr Mifsud was the supplier.

The magistrate observed that Mr Galea found it convenient to remember a lot of details about the case, save for any which would implicate the accused.

She therefore jailed Mr Mifsud for 10 months and fined him €950.

Inspector Victor Aquilina prosecuted.