NEWS | Wednesday, 11 February 2009

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Matthew Vella
A man arrested for drug trafficking in 2005, but whose name was banned by court order during compilation of evidence stage, was employed as a supply teacher with the Directorate of Educational Services between 2006 and 2008, this newspaper can confirm.
Simon Linton Sancto from Qala – whose drug run came to an end after a dramatic police chase in Sliema in December 2005 – was 23 at the time of arrest. He had admitted to charges of conspiring to deal 1,954 ecstasy pills and a quantity of cannabis, but Magistrate Joseph Apap Bologna issued a ban on the publication of his name.
The reason for this ban was not made public at the time. His name now appears in a Criminal Court sentence on the bill of indictment presented against him.
MaltaToday can now confirm that less than a year after his arrest, university-educated Sancto was employed as a supply teacher at the Kullegg Santa Tereza in Sta Venera, where he was seconded by the education directorate to provide Maltese language lessons to a Somali pupil.
The school authorities were unaware of the criminal charges brought against Sancto, although when asked by this newspaper, the Ministry of Education’s permanent secretary confirmed that the education department is aware of the drug trafficking indictment.
Nonetheless, Sancto appears to have been kept in employment with the Directorate of Educational Services until well after the bill of indictment was presented in court against him in 2007.
The permanent secretary told MaltaToday that Sancto’s employment was only terminated on 30 January 2008, and even then, only because his services were “no longer needed”.
“Mr Sancto was employed on a temporary basis as a supply teacher. As is ordinary practice, once the services of a supply teacher are no longer needed, their employment is terminated.”
The ministry has not confirmed whether it was aware of the criminal charges at the time of employing Sancto as a supply teacher. Sancto was also accused of aggravated trafficking, since he was found in possession of the ecstasy pills within 100 metres of a school.
Speaking to MaltaToday, the headmaster of the Kullegg Santa Tereza confirmed that Sancto had been sent to the school as a supply teacher to assist a Somali pupil in his Maltese lessons back in 2006.
“All I can say is that he performed miracles with this child,” headmaster Joe Grima said. “I didn’t know about the criminal charges, but he rendered his services here with flying colours.”
Grima said that Sancto was later transferred from the school.
Sancto appears to have been still part of the school’s educational team, having participated in a school development seminar as late as November 2007.

Criminal trial
Police inspector Pierre Grech, who led the prosecution against the Gozitan in the Magistrates’ Court, said Sancto had collaborated with investigators and had named other persons involved in the case. He was defended by lawyers Joseph Giglio and Jose Herrera.
Sancto was apprehended by police after his Mitsubishi Pajero was stopped in its tracks by police cars outside the Sliema police station, on 7 December 2005, after the police had been observing his movements for some days.
According to the bill of indictment, Sancto had called another man, Bjorn Formosa, to arrange a meeting to sell him ecstasy pills. At 8pm that evening, the police managed to bust the deal and chased Sancto as he drove off in his car.
Intercepting him outside the Sliema police station, Sancto tried to run away by driving first into the police blocking him from the front, and then ramming the police car blocking him from the rear.
When police searched his car, they found the 1,954 ecstasy pills, cannabis, as well as a shotgun and cartridges.
Apart from trafficking charges, he was also accused of resisting and assaulting inspector Pierre Grech and two constables who tried to stop him.
The Attorney General, who presented a bill of indictment with no fewer than nine charges, is asking the Court for a life sentence and a fine not exceeding Lm50,000, as well a confiscation of his property.
Sancto also pleaded insanity, but appears to have retracted his plea following an assessment carried out by psychiatric experts.
Last week, Judge Joseph Galea Debono ordered the Attorney General to correct several charges on the bill of indictment and deferred Sancto’s trial until such time.
At this point, the prosecution has to amend a number of charges, and pending any appeal that Sancto might present on the bill of indictment, his case will then go to trial.

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