Ayrton Bugeja, 28, has been sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for three years, after being found guilty of using cocaine with a 13-year-old girl. The case stems from a 2016 incident in which the girl was hospitalised following a drug overdose.Initially charged with drug trafficking, Bugeja was implicated after the girl told police he had given her cocaine in the bathroom of Clique nightclub in Paceville. She claimed to have consumed approximately sixteen lines but later admitted uncertainty about the quantity.The girl’s mother testified that she was notified by the hospital that her daughter was in critical condition. Upon arrival, she found her unconscious and looking lifeless. The girl later told her mother that she believed her drink had been spiked.In his defence, Bugeja denied taking drugs and insisted he was focused on a music career that kept him away from such behaviour. He alleged that the girl and her friend were with another, older man and were seen frequently going in and out of the bathroom with him.His defence argued that the girl’s statements were contradictory at times blaming another man, and at other times singling out Bugeja making her testimony unreliable.However, Magistrate Gianella Camilleri Busuttil ruled that the girl had consistently named Bugeja in both her police statement and court testimony. The magistrate also pointed out contradictions in Bugeja’s version of events: he first claimed he didn’t know where the girls had gone, then later said he saw them entering and exiting the bathroom with someone else. Based on this, the court found him guilty of “trafficking by sharing.”In sentencing, the court considered that five years had passed before Bugeja was charged and that he had no prior criminal convictions. He was fined €2,000 in addition to the suspended sentence.•