Jailed, fined for growing cannabis

A Zabbar man was yesterday jailed for seven months and fined Lm300 for growing cannabis in his garden eight years ago.

Joseph Fava, 41, was found guilty of cultivating two plants but was cleared of trafficking on and before April 22, 1994.

Magistrate Noel Cuschieri heard how police searched Fava's house and found two cannabis plants, a few centimetres in height, in two separate parts of his garden. Police also found a bag of cannabis leaves hidden in the grass.

Fava told police he did not know anything about the plants and denied ever selling parts of it.

But Magistrate Cuschieri noted there was enough evidence to prove the cultivation but not the trafficking.

He noted Fava's clean criminal record and the fact that the plants were small. He also noted that the crimes had been committed before the 1994 amendments to the Dangerous Drug Ordinance came into force, increasing the punishment for such crimes substantially.

Police Inspector Neil Harrison prosecuted.