Cat-loving Panamanian drug trafficker asks for pet to be jailed with him

A court was faced with an unusual request this morning, after a man it had just jailed for cocaine possession and trafficking asked to be allowed to take his cat with him in prison

The accused momentarily took the court by surprise after his sentence was read out, by asking that he be allowed to take his pet cat with him
The accused momentarily took the court by surprise after his sentence was read out, by asking that he be allowed to take his pet cat with him

A court was faced with an unusual request this morning, after a man it had just jailed for possession and trafficking of cocaine asked to be allowed to take his cat with him in prison.

Inspector Gabriel Micallef and inspector Nikolai Sant arrested Vladimir Omar Fernandez Delgado, 34, a Panamanian citizen, after an undisclosed amount of cocaine and cannabis was found inside his residence in St Julian's on Monday. Delgado, who was charged with relapsing, in addition to possession and trafficking, told magistrate Ian Farrugia that he had bought the drugs together with a group of friends and had only been storing it at his flat.

Although the prosecution and defence approached the bench to come to a plea bargaining arrangement with the court, the accused initially did not plead guilty to the charges as apparently agreed. Delgado denied conspiring to traffic the drugs, admitting only to possession. “Only 8 grams are mine... the rest were shared.”

The magistrate briefly left the courtroom to give defence lawyer Noel Bianco time to explain the concept of trafficking by sharing to the accused. Maltese law makes no distinction between sharing drugs for free and selling them for profit. Upon his return, the accused entered a guilty plea.

“I have been taking drugs because I had a lot of problems with my wife. I had weed, not heroin,” he explained, but later acknowledged that he was guilty in terms of the law.

Delgado said he was a heavy drug user and pleaded for clemency. “I am still getting jail, I should be put on a programme. I'm a junkie, give me a drug test and you will see that I'm not lying to you.”

He was sentenced to 15 months in prison and fined €750, with the court ordering the director of Corradino Correctional Facility to assist the accused in his struggle against drug dependency.

Delgado momentarily took the court by surprise after his sentence was read out, by asking that he be allowed to take his pet cat with him. “I want to take my cat with me, there will be no one to take care of it.”

Magistrate Farrugia said the man would have to take the matter up with the prison director.