Homeless man jailed for heroin, cannabis possession

A magistrate has jailed a 29-year-old man for five months and fined him €600 after he pleaded guilty to heroin and cannabis possession.

The court heard how in May 2004 the accused, one Johann Calleja, had been approached by four youths who had asked him for information on where they could buy cannabis.

The accused accompanied the youths to a dealer he knew in Cospicua and paid him LM10 in exchange for the cannabis.

The magistrate noted that his criminal record at the time of the offence was clean, but had since been sullied with convictions for numerous offences, including misappropriation, aggravated theft, voluntary damages, slight bodily harm, threatening behaviour, two convictions for simple possession of heroin, three for cocaine and one each for cannabis and ecstasy.

The accused had been serving a custodial sentence since 2012 and was expected to spend till 2017 in jail. He was also under a three-year probation order and was being encouraged to enter a drug rehabilitation programme.

The prosecution, led by Inspector Dennis Theuma, had told the court how Calleja had cooperated with investigations, giving them the names of those who had supplied him with drugs.

His difficult social circumstances were also noted – the man had no living family and nowhere to go once released from prison.

In view of this, the court extended his probation order till 2018 in order to continue his rehabilitation and ordered that Calleja is to receive the necessary support to kick his drug habit and find housing after serving his sentence.