A mother in her early 30s and battling a severe drug addiction was rearrested and taken to court on Wednesday.

She escaped from rehab and the prison authorities refused to take her back, going against a clear court order to that effect.

The woman, mother to a 12-year old currently being cared for by grandparents, was a sorry sight in court as two police officers and her defence lawyer laid before the magistrate the facts of the case.

She had been recommended for rehabilitation under a Judge’s decree which, preempting the possibility of a relapse, had clearly stated that if, for any reason, the woman quit the programme, she was to be returned to Corradino Correctional Facilities.

Even if she were to successfully complete the full programme, the woman would still have to return to CCF so that her situation could be adequately re-evaluated, the decree had read.

Things were reportedly working out well for the woman, so much so that she was named ‘house leader’ among her fellow residents at San Blas.

Yet, the situation took a downward turn when a doctor allegedly insisted on stopping the woman’s methadone-substitute medication.

On February 14, feeling ‘mentally unwell’, the woman decided to quit, sneaking out through a back door and later turning up at her parents’ home but not before she had sustained her addiction with some €15 worth of heroin.

Sensing their daughter’s poor state, the parents rushed her to Mount Carmel hospital where she was admitted for treatment.

Yet, after being discharged and sent back to CCF in line with the Judge’s decree, the prison authorities refused to take her back, insisting on a court process.

Caught between the Judge’s decree and this refusal by CCF, the police had little choice but to arraign the woman for breach of bail.

Defence lawyer Arthur Azzopardi argued in court that his client had been granted a special leave to undergo rehab and that any eventual slip had been provided for by the judge presiding over the criminal court.

Magistrate Anthony Vella, presiding over the hearing, upheld this argument pointing out that the Judge’s decree ‘had spoken clearly’.

 ‘The law applies equally to all, including the officials at CCF’ the Court remarked, clearing the woman of the alleged breach of bail and declaring that the Judge’s earlier order was to be followed.

Sources speaking to The Times later confirmed that the woman had been readmitted to prison.