23-year-old acquitted of involuntary homicide

A 23-year-old man from Zejtun was acquitted of involuntary homicide after the only evidence exhibited by the prosecution was a statement which the court discarded and the victim had knowingly contributed to his own death.

The case dates back to 2006 when the accused was 16 years of age.  As had already happened on at least 10 previous occasions, the accused purchased heroin from third parties to share it with a friend. The drugs were paid for by both youths.

On 25 February the youth and a friend of his, also 16, shared a dose of heroin, however the friend suffered an overdose and died.

Inspector Anthony Cassar told the court that doctors from the Emergency Department had been called in to assist a teenager who had suffered an overdose in an apartment in Marsascala.

Resuscitation procedure was initiated at the apartment after which he was placed on Active Life Support at St Luke's Intensive Care Unit.

The young man however died two days later, with the autopsy report concluding he died as result of the overdose.

During the course of the investigation, the police spoke to both the victim's father and brother.

The brother said he knew his brother and the friend had been under the influence of drugs when he saw them near the Zejtun Church.

"I recognised the symptoms because I had the same habit", the brother told the police.

The two went to the brother's apartment but when he came out of a shower the victim had turned purple.

The brother administered three hits of saline solution that brought the victim around, and he left him on the bed to rest.

However in the early hours of the morning the victim started foaming at the mouth and the brother called for medical assistance.

The victim's father told investigators he had kicked one of his sons out of the house because of the bad company he frequented. Before leaving for work he had warned the 16-year old to behave well. At 4am he was told to go to hospital.

The accused was also arrested and released a statement owing up to having purchased four sachets of heroin from a man known as Eric il-Bambocc. Together with the victim they split the drug in four injections, took two and hid the rest in a place known as 'il-Gibjun'.

As soon as the accused injected the drug he felt different to previous times and warned the victim about it, but they went their separate ways.

When the accused later went to fetch the remaining drugs he noticed that the victim had already collected the two remaining syringes. He did not see the victim again.

The defence counsel argued the police had taken a statement from a kid without providing him with any assistance, nor informing his parents about the arrest. Lawyer Roberto Montalto called on the court to ignore the police statement as it was taken from a vulnerable person.

An on site inquiry at the area known as 'il-Gibjun' was done by investigators.

The court upheld the request saying the accused had been nothing more than a 16-year old kid at the time of the incident.

The prosecution also failed to exhibit a statement under oath the accused had released during the Magisterial  Inquiry.

Magistrate Miriam Hayman concluded the only proven fact is that the accused and the victim knew each other well, had planned to meet at il-Gibjun, and the victim suffered an overdose while at his brother's apartment.

The court also held the charge of drug possession was not proven by the prosecution.

In her conclusions, Magistrate Hayman held the victim had contributed to his own demise as no one forced him to abuse drugs.

"The two were in agreement and one paid a very high price for his habit. However the victim was no stranger to the world of drugs as his sibling was already in court over drug related charges. The court acquits the accused and hopes he learns from this experience and amends his own ways".

Lawyer Roberto Montalto appeared for the accused.