Man acquitted of trafficking ecstasy after 18-year legal saga

A 37-year-old man from Paola has been acquitted of trafficking ecstasy when he was 19, bringing to an end a court saga spanning 18 years, in a judgment which noted several shortcomings in the way the case was prosecuted.

In a judgement handed down on Tuesday, Magistrate Elaine Mercieca declared Tyrone Fenech not guilty of the charges against him, after his unassisted statements to interrogators were declared inadmissible and important witnesses did not testify in the proceedings.

The case took 18 years to come to an end due to parallel constitutional and European cases over his unassisted statement.

The court ruled that in the circumstances, it was not of the opinion that it would be safe and satisfactory to rely on sworn statements released by witnesses who were never summoned to testify in court, as doing so deprived the defence of the right to cross-examine them.

Fenech and another person had been arrested in St. Julians, with police finding two small plastic bags and LM150 in cash in his possession. He was subsequently charged with trafficking ecstasy in February 2004 and with possession of both ecstasy and cannabis.

But the court observed that the police officers who had actually seized the substances had never testified, also pointing out that the prosecution had closed its evidence before the expert appointed to analyse the substances during the magisterial inquiry could testify to his findings.

Magistrate Merceica noted that the only remaining evidence were mobile phones seized from the accused, but even here, the prosecution had not summoned witnesses to testify as to who had physically retrieved the devices and in what circumstances.

An expert’s analysis of the devices retrieved several suspicious messages which could indicate the use or dealing of drugs, noted the court, “but a message alone is not evidence of its contents.”

“The fact that these messages are the only remaining evidence against the accused, this court is not of the opinion that these messages alone, although some are suspicious, lead to finding of guilt at the extent required by law, which is that beyond reasonable doubt.”

Finding that the charges against the accused had not been sufficiently proven, the court proceeded to declare Tyrone Fenech innocent of all charges. 

Lawyers Jose Herrera and David Camilleri represented Fenech during the proceedings.