Relapser jailed for heroin possession in prison

A 29-year-old man with a 17-page-long criminal record has been sentenced to five months behind bars after pleading guilty to being in possession of a sachet of heroin while serving a two-and-a-half-year jail term in prison.

The incident occurred in December 2008, when the accused, Fabian Sciriha, of Mosta, was caught with a sachet of heroin.

Police subsequently charged him with being in possession of and trafficking heroin, and of being in possession of prohibited articles while in prison.

While taking into account Sciriha’s guilty plea, Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras noted that the man has had several brushes with the law, and has in the past been convicted of simple and aggravated theft, defilement of minors, possession of heroin, and of holding a person against their will.

The court also noted that the man committed the offence in question while serving a 30-month imprisonment term for stealing a handbag from St Luke’s Hospital back in 2007. 

Prosecuting inspector Spiridione Zammit requested that the court increases the punishment by one or two degrees because the punishment was committed in prison.

Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras found the man guilty of heroin possession and relapsing, and handed him a five-month imprisonment term.

Sciriha was however acquitted of trafficking heroin and of being in possession of prohibited articles in prison after the prosecution dropped the charges.

Inspector Spiridione Zammit prosecuted.