Man who dropped cocaine sachet while signing bail book, is granted bail… for the eighth time

A notorious convicted drug dealer who, just this week, was charged with attempting to bribe a witness into giving false testimony, has astonishingly been granted bail for the eighth time after being charged with cocaine possession.

38-year-old Terence Cini from Qormi was arraigned before magistrate Noel Bartolo on Friday, charged with breaching no less than seven sets of bail conditions, possession of cocaine and recidivism. Magistrate Bartolo issued Cini his eighth set of bail conditions today.

Cini is currently in preventive custody, after being charged on Tuesday with offering a €47,000 bribe to a witness in separate criminal proceedings against him. Lawyer Matthew Xuereb has been questioned by the police in the investigation's context. 

Cini, assisted by lawyers Franco Debono, Alfred Abela and Rene Darmanin, was arraigned before magistrate Noel Bartolo on Friday, by Police Inspectors Wayne Bonello and James Mallia.

Inspector Bonello explained that a suspicious package had been found at the Qormi police station on October 8th, which was later found to contain 4.95g of cocaine. CCTV footage showed that the sachet had fallen out of one of Cini’s pockets.

Cini pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Lawyer Franco Debono requested bail. The prosecution objected due to Cini’s criminal character, telling the court that the defendant was already under seven, concurrent, sets of bail conditions.

Debono and Darmanin argued that the alleged crime took place when Cini was obeying his bail conditions by signing his bail book. “Our client is pleading not guilty and is rejecting the allegations being made against him,” argued the lawyer, arguing that Cini was presumed innocent at this stage.

The lawyers argued that the amount of drugs allegedly in his possession was perilously close to 2 grams, which has been depanelized and is no longer a criminal offence. The defence tied this to their objection to the appointment of an expert who uses the University of Malta’s unaccredited laboratory to carry out tests on suspected drugs.

“It is unacceptable that in 2023… the Maltese State does not have a laboratory which is accredited,” argued Debono, adding that the small amounts involved in this case magnified the problem, because even a slight inaccuracy could have big legal ramifications.

In a statement on Thursday, the Judiciary association slammed authorities’ ‘persistent failures’ in addressing acute problems within the courts, saying they have failed to address, with a long term plan, the acute problems within the Courts.

Debono also invited the court to take into account that the charges deal with an event that had taken place on October 7, almost a month before, and that a magisterial inquiry had since been held and had preserved the evidence.

Upholding the defence’s arguments in their totality, the court, remarkably, once again granted Cini bail - his eighth concurrent set of bail conditions, ordering him to sign a bail book three times a week and observe a curfew. Bail was to be secured by a €2,000 deposit and a €4,000 personal guarantee.