A young man who was granted police bail some three months ago after he was found in possession of some “ready to sell” sachets of drugs at a road block was granted bail upon his arraignment on Thursday.

Jean Claude Cassar, a 19-year old currently in search of a job, had failed to abide by the conditions laid down in his police bail imposed on October 2 and did not turn up at the Cospicua police station when summoned for further questioning on November 10.

The youth was finally tracked down, arrested and taken to court on Thursday where he pleaded not guilty to having been in possession of cocaine and heroin in circumstances indicating that it was not for his personal use, as well as the simple possession of cannabis.

He was further charged with failing to abide by the conditions of his police bail.

The prosecution explained that, following the road block in Żabbar back in October, the accused had told investigators that the drugs were for his own personal use. He was subsequently released on police bail.

During Thursday’s arraignment, a request for bail by defence lawyer Franco Debono was not objected to by the prosecution so long as the accused supplied a fixed address and the court imposed stringent conditions.

In view of this, duty magistrate Rachel Montebello upheld the request against a deposit of €300, a personal guarantee of €5,000 and an order to sign the bail book three times a week, as well as to abide by a curfew between 8pm and 7am.

The court strictly warned the accused of the consequences he would face if he were to breach even one single condition of bail.

Inspector Eman Hayman prosecuted. Lawyer Amadeus Cachia was also defence counsel.

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