Man who sold drugs near Gozo school jailed for two years

A man who admitted to selling drugs metres away from a Gozo school has been jailed.

Anthony Said, 44, from Kercem and Fontana, Gozo was sentenced to two years and a fine of €3,000 after he pleaded guilty to aggravated possession of cocaine and heroin and possession of cannabis, and drug trafficking within a 100-metre distance from a school, gym and football club, and of being a relapser.

Appearing in front of Magistrate Joe Mifsud, Said was accused of carrying out these crimes on 18 January and in previous years.

The self-confessed drug addict pleaded guilty after being red-handed trafficking drugs at St Francis Square, Victoria, a short distance away from a school and gym.

Magistrate Joe Mifsud, presiding the Court of Magistrates in Gozo noted that the accused, had been arrested last month by police officials, “doing their utmost to rid the streets of Gozo of those who are destroying so many young people.”

In his sentence on the matter, the magistrate, citing a judgment of the Court of Appeals, observed that criminal punishment was not society’s vendetta against the guilty person, but had a reparative and reformative function.

Moreover, punishment served to protect society by ensuring that “those who posed a threat to society were kept behind bars and thus out of circulation,” said the court.

Having seen the particular circumstances of the case, whilst taking note of the accused’s early guilty plea as well as his addiction problems, the court declared him guilty, sentencing him to a two-year prison term and a €3,000 fine.

The court also made a recommendation to the Director of Prisons to provide the man all the help he required to rehabilitate himself.