A 24-YEAR-OLD heroin addict was yesterday given a second chance when he was jailed for 12 months.
Evagoras Kallis was found guilty of possession of just over two grams of heroin and conspiracy to commit a crime by the Nicosia Assize Court.
He was arrested en route to Nicosia with another drug user on September 1, 2008 after securing their fix in the occupied areas.
During sentencing, Kallis kept his eyes glued on the panel of three judges. Now and again his eyes flicked from one judge to another and then settled back on Assize Court president Judge Yiasemis Yiasemi.
The judge said the 24-year-old had been convicted twice before. Once for breaking and entering charges committed in 2007 and once for possession of heroin in 2008. He was jailed for 16 months and one month, respectively. Both offences took place in Larnaca.
Yiasemi said the court had taken into account the defendant’s young age, the fact that he came from a large, low income family and that he had received little guidance at home due to his parents lack of education and their serious health problems.
The judge also acknowledged that Kallis had left school after completing his first year of secondary school and started working odd jobs. He started smoking marijuana at 16 and began using heroin in 2006, said Yiasemi.
Dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans, the 24-year-old hardly flinched throughout the reading of the sentence and only shifted in his seat as Yiasemi neared the end of the text.
He was sentenced to 12 months for possession of heroin and five months for conspiracy to commit a crime. Both sentences are to run concurrently and to date back to when he was arrested and remanded in custody in September last year, the court ruled.
Initially the 24-year-old did not react and his gaze remained fixed on the trio. What he was feeling was unclear. After the judges filed out of the courtroom Kallis was face burst into a grin and shook his fist in joy.
“I expected more. I thought I’d get at least five years because of the charges,” he said later.
“I’m glad because this is a new beginning and I’m now clean,” he said.
The 24-year-old said he had come off heroin cold turkey during his time in prison with the support from a psychologist.
“I went through the physical withdrawal symptoms alone but I had a psychologist who I talked to all the time,” he said.
Kallis said jail was an awful place and even spending another three days in there was going to feel like 10 months. He said once he got out he would be joining his older brother who owned his own painting company and would work for him. He also said he planned to buy a new car as soon as he was able to.
Kallis’ father, who was in court, said he hoped his son stayed clean. The 55-year-old, who has four other children and four grandchildren, said his son had been given a second chance and that watching his addiction take over him had been painful.
He said none of his fourth child’s old ‘friends’ had visited him during his incarceration and that he hoped they didn’t come out of the woodwork now that he was due to be released.
While the 24-year-old waited to be taken back to the Central Prisons to complete what remained of his sentence, he rang his mother to tell her the good news, the note of joy in his voice undeniable.
