Jail term suspended on appeal

A man who was originally jailed for a month for trafficking in cannabis has had his jail term suspended on appeal.

Stefano Caruana had been jailed for a month and fined Lm25 when the Magistrates' Court found him guilty of trafficking in cannabis in 1998 and 1999. He had, however, asked the Court of Appeal, presided over by Mr Justice David Scicluna, to overturn the judgment and declare him innocent.

The judge, who ruled that the first court was justified in reaching its decision, applied a recently-introduced amendment to the law and suspended Mr Caruana's jail term for three years.