Woman jailed for smuggling drugs to imprisoned Maximilian Ciantar

Maria Cassar, 27, from Birzebbugia was jailed for 8 months and fined €900 after she was found guilty of smuggling heroin into the Corradino Correctional Facility. The heroin was stashed inside a condom which the woman had inserted into her private parts.

On 6 June 2010, the woman had been detained following a strip search at the prison, where she had gone to visit her boyfriend Maximilian Ciantar, who was being held at the Young Offenders Unit Rehabilitation Services division of the prison.

It had been during this search that the drug-laden condom was found inside Cassar, who was taken to the Fgura police station for questioning.

A court expert had established the substance inside the condom to be 0.16 grams of heroin of 15% purity.

Cassar had chosen to testify, telling the court that she had been coerced by Ciantar into bringing him the drugs in jail.

He had given her a phone number and told her to buy the €30 of heroin, and then bring it to him in prison on the day in question.

The woman claimed that Ciantar had attacked her on a number of occasions, but that she had never gone to hospital for the injuries she suffered. Her father testified to say that he had seen bruises on his daughter on one occasion but that she hadn’t told him she was being beaten.

Other family members, however, had told the court that Ciantar would mistreat her and threaten her father.

Deciding the case, magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras found the woman guilty. The court took into account the fact that the woman had a clean criminal record at the time and although she hadn’t pleaded guilty, she had cooperated with the police investigation. The amount of drugs was minimal and Cassar had since stopped taking heroin herself.

On the other hand, the court also pointed out the serious nature of the crime, in particular, the fact that the drugs had been delivered to a place of rehabilitation.

Cassar was sentenced to imprisonment for 8 months and fined €900.