Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/756492
2 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 30 NOVEMBER 2016 News 153 MINISTRY FOR THE FAMILY AND SOCIAL SOLIDARITY MINISTRY FOR FINANCE C M Y CM MY CY CMY K 153 ENG C3.pdf 1 18/11/2016 20:37 Two men fined €3,000 each for Facebook hate speech MAT THEW AGIUS TWO youths have been fined €3,000 each for inciting racial hatred on the internet, through racist comments that they posted in a public Facebook page called 'Daqshekk ghall- Immigrazzjoni Llegali f 'Malta' [No more illegal immigration in Malta]. Last year, on 4 March, under- neath a photograph of a black man recovering in a hospital bed at Mater Dei Hospital, two Fa- cebook users wrote " burn him" and suggested replacing the man's saline drip with sulphuric acid. Both Christopher Pisani and Eric Cuschieri pleaded guilty and were each fined €3,000. It is understood that the men intend to appeal the sentence. Among the torrent of bile, an- other commentator had rued the fact that the hospital 's win- dows could not be opened. Yet another advocated removing the man's intravenous drip, burn- ing the sheets and replacing him with a Maltese patient. It is not known whether any other individuals have been prosecuted for the comments. Pisani and Cuschieri were ar- raigned by writ of summons be- fore Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit yesterday, after the police force's Cybercrime Unit received a report with screen- shots of the torrent of objection- able comments by the Facebook group's members, from a mem- ber of the public. Among the torrent of bile, another commentator had rued the fact that the hospital's windows could not be opened Converting cocaine into crack cocaine is not trafficking, rules court MATTHEW AGIUS A man has been cleared of drug trafficking charges after a court ruled that converting cocaine into crack cocaine does not con- stitute that particular offence. Denis Cremona, 36, from Flo- riana, had been charged with trafficking cocaine and relaps- ing after officers from the drugs squad had raided Cremona's residence in May 2012, finding the accused and a certain Jason Bugeja, who had been holding a sachet of white powder. Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras was told how the of- ficers had also recovered drug paraphernalia from the house, including a set of electronic scales, bicarbonate of soda, a pipe, plastic bags, a penknife, a teaspoon, a box of razors and two knives, one of which was burnt. Although no illegal substances were detected on the knives, the penknife and the teaspoon, a court-appointed expert found traces of cocaine on the pipes and the scales. Cremona, who had declined legal assistance during his in- terrogation, had told the police that he used the glass pipes to burn "rubbish" (imbarazz), and would use the scales and bags for things he bought. The accused, who explained that he had been a cocaine and heroin addict for 10 years, al- leged that Bugeja had gone to his house to smoke crack with him, but denied selling the drugs. Cremona also denied con- verting the cocaine into crack cocaine, saying that Bugeja had provided the ready-cooked drug, which the pair had smoked together. Bugeja, however, had told po- lice that he had gone to visit the accused because he did not know how to "cook" cocaine. He had admitted that the drugs were his. Prosecuting police inspector Nikolai Sant had argued that cooking crack cocaine was ef- fectively the manufacture of the drug and therefore, constituted the offence of trafficking. The court however noted that only bicarbonate of soda had been exhibited in court as evi- dence and the white substance that had been found in Bugeja's possession was never exhib- ited, making it impossible for the court to establish whether it was cocaine or crack cocaine. The court held that while there was little doubt that Bugeja had procured the drug, the para- phernalia found in his apart- ment was not enough to prove that Cremona had trafficked it. It disagreed with the prosecu- tion's reasoning that convert- ing cocaine into crack cocaine constituted trafficking. Whilst the offence of trafficking drugs included the manufacture and production of drugs, the law de- fined neither "manufacturing" nor "production." The court observed that the Oxford English Dictionary de- fined manufacturing as "the activity of making things by industrial processes" and pro- duction as "the action of manu- facturing, growing, extracting things, especially in large quan- tities." The conversion of cocaine into crack cocaine did not constitute manufacture or production, but only a change in form in order to allow a different method of consumption, because the ac- tive ingredient remained the same ruled the court. Furthermore, as Bugeja had never alleged that the accused had procured the drugs for him and no drugs had been found in Cremona's possession, the charge of trafficking could not subsist, the court said, acquit- ting Cremona of all charges. Vintage truck's restorer ordered to give up prized possession MATTHEW AGIUS A court has ordered a man who had painstakingly restored a di- lapidated Bedford Perkins truck that came into his possession, to return it to its original owners. The truck was originally the property of Angelo Grech, the only deliveryman for Canada Dry products in Gozo in decades past. Carmel Xuereb had come into possession of the truck in 2008 when the owners of the garage in which it was parked had asked him to tow the vehicle out of their property and dispose of it as he pleased, as they wanted to clear out the garage. In the court of Magistrates in Gozo, Xuereb had told Magistrate Joanne Vella Cuschieri that the truck had been abandoned to rot, having been allowed to reach a terminal state of disrepair. The roof of the garage had also partially collapsed onto the vehi- cle, smashing the truck's wooden cabin. Xuereb had toiled for many hours and incurred costs of some €8,000 to restore the truck to its original condition. The plaintiff, Agnese Grech who lives in New York, had declared that the truck was her late hus- band's. Angelo Grech was known throughout Gozo as 'tal-Canada Dry' as he had been the only deliv- ery man for the drinks brand for many years, before he emigrated to America. The vintage truck, emblazoned with the Canada Dry logo, had been stored in the same garage since 1982. However, in 2005, the owners of the garage had applied for an evic- tion order against Angelo Grech, who shortly afterwards was diag- nosed with cancer. Grech had died in 2008, and his widow had not shown any interest in the truck at all, until one day in 2011 her son-in-law, Mario Mus- cat, a car enthusiast, informed her that the Bedford was being adver- tised for sale on e-Bay at an asking price of £9,000. The seller stated that he was not in possession of the logbook as the former owner had died. Magistrate Joanne Vella Cuschieri observed that although the plaintiff and her husband had abandoned the truck for decades and let it fall into disrepair, there was no evidence to show that they had renounced ownership of the vehicle. The court held that the defend- ant must have known that the truck was still registered in the name of Angelo Grech, pointing to the e-bay description as evi- dence of this. In fact Xuereb had attempted to convince the plaintiff 's daughter, who lived in Gozo, to sign docu- ments transferring ownership but she had refused. The magistrate pointed out that it was the only vehicle of its type in Gozo and the nickname 'Tal-Canada Dry' was well known enough for Xuereb to have been aware of the identity of the truck's owner. The court, unconvinced by the defendant's claim of having bought the truck from a scrapy- ard, ruled that Xuereb had acted in bad faith and had no legal claim of ownership. Xuereb was ordered to return the truck to the plain- tiff without any right to be reim- bursed for the expenses he in- curred in the vehicle's restoration. The truck similar to the one pictured above had been garaged since 1982