Woman handed conditional discharge for drug possession

A 29-year-old woman from Senglea who was accused of trafficking ecstasy pills in 2008, after telling interrogating police officers that she had planned to sell them, has been convicted of a lesser charge because she had not been assisted by a lawyer during questioning.

Victoria Buhagiar had been accused of possessing the drug ecstasy in circumstances which denoted an intention to traffic the substance, after she was stopped and searched by police at the Eden Ice Arena.

Buhagiar was arrested after three ecstasy pills were found in her bra. She later released a statement, admitting that she had been carrying the pills for her boyfriend.

Defence lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia raised the argument that Buhagiar had not been assisted by a lawyer during questioning. Although this right did not exist at the time, being introduced in 2010, judgments by the European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court have since consistently held that unassisted statements to police were inadmissible as evidence.

Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras, having declared the girl's police statement to be inadmissible for this reason, concluded that Buhagiar could only be found guilty of simple possession of the drug.

The court handed the woman an 18-month conditional discharge.

Superintendent Dennis Theuma prosecuted.