Arrested while drunk, then jailed for intent to supply cannabis

Thursday 17 January 2019

A Polish national with family living in the island has been recommended for deportation after he serves a two year prison sentence for intending to supply cannabis.

Having lived on the island for less than a year, Nikodem Mozgala, 21, was found in possession of 18.41 grams of the class B drug in resin form while under arrest for being drunk and disorderly in August 2018.

The man was arrested on 5 August last year, by Guernsey Police officers after he drank a bottle of vodka having lost his job in a kitchen at a St Peter Port restaurant. He was asked to remove a pair of drawstring shorts at the police station, which meant several bags, which had been taped to his genitals, were revealed.

Within those six bags were a brown substance later identified as cannabis resin, with a street value of around £360-£540. The court heard that at the time the defendant protested "smoke is not a drug".

Pictured: Cannabis resin which is made from the flowering plant. 

A mobile phone was seized and texts dating back to July were found, a selection of which were read out to the court, to demonstrate Mozgala obtaining and distributing the controlled substance. These were taken into account during his sentencing by the Royal Court, but no application was made to pursue a case for drug trafficking.  

One message found on the defendant's phone read: "bro you got any, please my sweet b**** save me." 

The court heard from his defence lawyer, Advocate Phoebe Cobb, that while Mozgala was not opposing the potential for her client to be deported in light of the offence, he did have three siblings living on the island who had been here for between four and seven years respectively.

Advocate Cobb's mitigation statement also covered Mozgala's upbringing in Poland, including the death of his mother at the age of 13 and his father's ill health. His move to the island in January 2018 was attributed to being in a "desperate situation" wanting to do "anything he could" to help pay for his father's treatment.

Having been in custody since 2 October Adv. Cobb asked the court to be as lenient as they were able to in sentencing Mozgala and that he would consider "deportation punishment enough".  

The Judge, Deputy Bailiff Richard McMahon, told the court during sentencing that Mozgala would be treated as being of previously good character and "[sending] money back home is laudable but only if it is earned legitimately." 

Despite his family ties, Mozgala who doesn't have a partner or children in the island, was recommended to the Lieutenant Governor for deportation. Forfeiture and destruction of the drugs and paraphernalia was also granted as well as the forfeiture of his mobile phone as it was used in a crime.  

Pictured inset above: Nikodem Mozgala.