Appeal court suspends prison sentence handed down to European commissioner's son for drug trafficking

The prison sentence for drug trafficking handed down three years ago to one of EU Equality Commissioner Helena Dalli's sons has been suspended after a judge partially upheld his appeal.

In 2021, magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras sentenced Jean Marc Dalli, then aged 25, to three months' imprisonment and the payment of a fine of €650, for drug trafficking during a party, ten years ago.

Dalli was caught handing six ecstasy pills to another man outside a party at the former Corradino prisons in September 2013.

A police officer had testified that he saw Dalli hand over a suspicious-looking paper bag, which prompted the officers to intervene and arrest the three people involved: Jean Marc Dalli, Dwight Falzon and Gabrielle Tonna. Six pills were found in Falzon's possession and three more in Tonna's possession. No drugs were found in Dalli's possession.

Dalli told police that he had bought the drugs from a certain Cédric Zammit for his friend Dwight Falzon and that he had passed them on to the latter. In his sworn testimony before the investigating judge, Dalli said Falzon gave him €60, the same amount of money Dalli paid Zammit for the drugs.

“As soon as I handed these six pills to Dwight, I was arrested by the police,” Dalli told the magistrate.

In a judgment delivered on Friday, the Court of Criminal Appeal, presided over by Judge Edwina Grima, noted that Dalli's conviction was based on the content of his statement, which he later confirmed under oath before the investigating judge , as well as other evidence.

The judge said that while she agreed with the trial court's observation that the prosecution should also have called Falzon and Tonna as witnesses to confirm Dalli's account, the evidence already collected showed that Dalli had bought the drugs for Falzon, who then reimbursed him.
“As previously stated, Appellant did not benefit from this exchange and that the purpose behind Appellant's actions was to acquire this restricted psychotropic medication for Falzon to consume during the party.”

This is the less serious offense of “trafficking by sharing”, first introduced in 2006, which carries a lesser sentence, the court said, also observing that the quantity of drugs involved was minimal and that Dalli did not had no criminal record, nor at the time of his arrest. his arrest, nor during the ten years that followed.

The judge said that although in his youth Dalli used illicit substances at social events, he was not a drug addict and had never failed a drug test while out on bail. A social investigation report had concluded that Dalli had a strong social support network, a job he enjoyed and a happy relationship with the mother of his child, the court added.

Taking all of this into account, the judge used a provision of the Medical and Allied Professions Ordinance, which allows a court to impose a non-custodial sentence if it “is of the opinion that the offender had the “intent to consume the drug on site with others”. .”

Confirming Dalli's finding of guilt – but only for the night of his arrest, and not for the preceding days and months – the judge ordered that the 3-month prison sentence imposed on him by the trial court be suspended for one year, while confirming the fine of €650, payable in installments.

READ ALSO : Patrick Dalli insults chief justice in open court after son's statement on drug trafficking ruled admissible