Somali refugee jailed 11 months for cannabis possession

A refugee arrested for drug possession last August has been jailed.

Somali national, Nasir Fuqle Warsame, at the time a resident at the Marsa Open Centre, was arrested on 31 August together with an Eritrean man, Yemane Teklom Zerislase, who the court was told lived in a garage near the Rabat church.

The two accused, together with two other persons, one of them Maltese, had been detained during a raid by the Police Drugs Squad on a Marsa bar.

The court was told that Warsame had tried to conceal a bag containing 17 grams of cannabis, with a further five pieces of the drug being found during a search of his person.

Warsame and Zerilslase were both charged with possession of cannabis grass and resin which were found in circumstances, indicating that they were not intended for personal use.

Although Warsame had initially pleaded not guilty to the charges, he later filed an admission, but not until a number of witnesses had tendered their evidence - a fact not lost on the court.

Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras said that his admission was not an early one and did not merit a reduction in punishment. His clean criminal record was, however, taken into account.

He was sentenced to 11 months imprisonment, from which the time already spent in custody was to be deducted.

Inspector Justine Grech prosecuted.