A 37-year-old man from Paola has just Beene acquitted of trafficking ecstasy when he was 19. The court case has spanned a whopping 18 years, with the judgement handed down on Tuesday.
Magistrate Elaine Mercieca declared Tyrone Fenech not guilty of charges against him, after his unassisted statements to interrogators were declared inadmissible. Important witnesses did not testify in the proceedings.
The case took so long due to parallel constitutional and European cases over his unassisted statement.
Fenech had been arrested along with another person in St Julians after police found two small plastic bags and LM150 in cash in his possession. He was subsequently charged with trafficking the drug in February 2004, as well as possession of ecstasy and cannabis.
The court observed that the officers who seized the substances never testified, pointing out that the prosecution had closed its evidence before the expert appointed to analyse the substances could testify to his findings.
The only remaining evidence were mobile phones seized from the accused. However, the prosecution had not summoned witnesses to testify as to who had physically retrieved the devices and in what circumstances.
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