Woman jailed, fined for handing heroin to young user weeks before his death
A Gozitan woman was jailed and fined after being found guilty of procuring heroin for a young user who eventually died of a drug overdose in 2011.
Maria Concetta Vella, 56, was arraigned after friends of the victim mentioned her as the person who supplied the youth with drugs, the last time being some three weeks before his lifeless body was discovered at a Fontana residence.
Inside the place were syringes and other drug-related paraphernalia.
The woman denied she had anything to do with the man’s death, claiming that she had never sold drugs and insisting that ever since spending time behind bars, she had kicked the habit.
She said she had warned the youth to steer clear of drugs and she helped him by cooking for him and even occasionally giving him money.
However, two friends of the victim claimed otherwise when testifying at the magisterial inquiry shortly after his death.
One of them said that he too, like the victim, had bought drugs from Vella and her then-partner back in 2009. The victim had also told him that Vella supplied him with a free daily sachet of heroin.
Another friend had recalled how, just three weeks before the overdose, the victim had returned home with two...