Following a successful half-time submission of no case to answer, Sebastian’s young client was acquitted of a human trafficking offence involving a 13-year-old boy.
The case concerned a ‘County Line’ which had been supplying crack cocaine and heroin to users in Colchester throughout 2022. The Police arrested several younger males who were supposedly connected to the line, including a child aged 13 who was found with drugs and a knife. The Crown asserted that Sebastian’s client and his co-defendant had taken the 13-year-old boy from London to Colchester and forced him to conceal drugs within his body for onward supply. The defence argued that both he and the 13-year-old boy had been vulnerable young drug runners fulfilling the same role in the line.
Much of the Crown’s case was based upon hearsay as none of the alleged trafficked victims gave statements or evidence. After a series of successful legal arguments, Sebastian successfully had all of the hearsay evidence and much of the mobile telephone cell site evidence excluded.
The Judge found that there was insufficient evidence to show that the 13-year-old had been trafficked by Sebastian’s client and upheld a submission of no case to answer.
Sebastian was instructed by Danielle Roberts at OBW Law.