Convicted mother and son charged with trafficking cannabis in jail

58 year-old Concetta Decelis and her 38 year-old son Jason who are serving 15 and 25 years respectively in jail, faced a Magistrate this morning, charged with trafficking in cannabis in jail.

The Decelis are serving time for the murder by omission in May 2001 of 18 year-old Rachel Bowdler, whose lifeless body was found by a farmer in a field in an area known as Ras Il-Gebel, in the limits of Mgarr.

The father, Carmel Decelis, was cleared of murder and found guilty of involuntary homicide and has served a year and a half in prison.

Evidence during their trial by jury in 2006 before Judge Joseph Galea Debono showed that on May 12, 2001, Jason Decelis met Rachel Bowdler and the two went to his mother's apartment in Bugibba.

At about 6 p.m., the young woman lost consciousness and Jason Decelis panicked and phoned his father. When his father arrived, he started wetting Bowdler's face and chest in an attempt to revive her.

Then, at about 10.30 p.m., Concetta Decelis arrived home from work to find her husband tending to an unconscious stranger.

Some time later her husband, the two are now separated, left for his Pietà apartment where he spent the night worried about the young woman.

Concetta Decelis stayed up all night tending to Rachel Bowdler and the following morning, at about 6 a.m., her husband called to check on the young woman and then went back to Bugibba where he saw that the girl was still in a bad shape.

As Concetta Decelis realised that Rachel Bowdler was no longer breathing, she decided that the young woman's body had to be taken out of her apartment.

Carmel and Jason Decelis carried the girl down the stairs and onto the back seat of Carmel Decelis' car.

Jason Decelis sat next to her and gave directions to his father at the wheel. Concetta Decelis sat in the passenger's seat.

When they arrived in a field in Mgarr they laid the young woman on the ground and drove back home.

Rachel Bowdler was found dead hours after by a farmer.

During the trial, experts told the court that the young girl could have been saved if only she was referred to a hospital, rather than being left abandoned.