Cocaine dealer gets 12-month jail term, €1,500 fine

A 26-year-old Serbian former bartender who dabbled in selling cocaine has been jailed for one year and fined €1,500 after he was found guilty of trafficking the narcotic in Paceville.

On 19 March 2016, Milos Simonovic was stopped by three police officers as he was leaving a block of apartments near Burger King in Paceville. A search on the person of the accused yielded a packet of cigarettes, which contained twelve sachets, each with a white substance. A search was subsequently conducted in his apartment, which yielded nothing illegal or suspicious. According to the report drawn up by a court expert, the 12 plastic sachets retrieved, all contained cocaine.

The accused had released a statement to police, after being duly cautioned and after refusing legal advice. He stated that he had worked as a bartender in Paceville and Sliema up till about 20 days before his arrest, having left his employment since the conditions “were not good.” He stated that he rented his apartment for €600 a month and that he lived with his girlfriend, who at the time was holidaying in Serbia. He denied having a drug problem, but said that the sachets had been for his personal consumption.

The Serbian man was charged with simple and aggravated possession of cocaine and with having been so in possession, in a place less than 100m from an area frequented by youths.

Simonovic, who had worked as a bar manager at a popular night club, had stated that he always bought drugs in separate sachets but denied intending to sell the drug, explaining that he bought it in the amounts that were found because it worked out cheaper.

He claimed to have been on his way home to get ready for a night out in Paceville when he was arrested on 10:00pm on a Saturday night.

Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras noted however that the amount of the drug cocaine found in the accused’s possession was greater than that normally associated with personal use.

Although the accused stated that was a cocaine user, this did not necessarily exclude drug possession for other reasons. The Court further noted that both in his statement and in his deposition to the court, the accused had stated that he did not have a drug problem and that he did not consider himself to be addicted to cocaine, but that he was merely enjoying himself, also stating that he had been using cocaine for the past four or five months.

This lead the Court to deem “very unlikely and lacking in credibility” the accused’s assertion that he consumed four or five sachets of cocaine in one night – or circa 2 grams or 2.5 grams of cocaine and that he would have consumed all twelve sachets in one weekend.

This did not tally with the accused’s declaration that he did not consider himself as an addict or as having a drug problem having only been using cocaine for a few months, said the court. It described the 4-5 sachets per night figure he quoted as “a very convenient mathematical calculation on his part in order to justify having been found in possession of this amount of cocaine.”

The court said the fact that he was carrying all twelve sachets on his person when he was on his way home, not having consumed any during the day, begged the question as to why they were there.

The accused’s reply in his deposition that the drugs had simply been in his pocket did not wash with the court.

Finally the court also noted that the accused claimed to have bought the drugs for the price of €400 and that he paid a monthly rent of €600 for his apartment. Although he had only been unemployed for around two or three weeks and he shared expenses with his girlfriend, he had stated that he was earning €1,200 to €1,300 per month whilst in employment. After deducting the cost of shared rent and the daily costs of living, the court held it was “highly unlikely that the accused could afford to spend such amounts of money on cocaine, without having any other source of income.”

“The Court does not deem as credible or likely that the accused consumed four or five sachets of cocaine in one night or twelve sachets of cocaine in a weekend, considering that he was a recreational user of cocaine, who had been consuming the drug for a few months, considering further that the accused was apprehended in possession of such quantities of cocaine on the night of his arrest and furthermore that his income does not tally with his alleged use of cocaine, the costs of his accommodation and daily expenses, the Court concludes that it has been proved beyond any reasonable doubt that the said twelve sachets of cocaine were not intended solely for the personal use of the accused.”

After taking into account the aggravated nature of the charges, the accused's previous conviction for cannabis possession, the court sentenced Simonovic to 12 months in prison, together with a fine of €1,500. He was also ordered to foot the €224.20 bill for the appointment of court experts. The drugs were ordered to be destroyed.