Judge reduces eight-year jail term

A Zabbar man, who had been jailed for a total of eight years and one month, had his term reduced to three years.

The Magistrates' Court had found Anton Vassallo, 27, guilty of stealing a bike, the possession of another two stolen bikes, making a false declaration when he replaced the registration plates of one vehicle with that of another, and causing damage to the bikes between February and July 2003.

He was also found guilty of committing the crimes during the two-year period he had been placed under probation and during the operative time of two suspended jail terms, one of two years and the other of 13 months.

The first court jailed him for three years, ordered that the two suspended jail terms be put into effect and imposed a two-year jail term for breaching the probation.

Mr Vassallo then took his case to the Court of Criminal Appeal and Mr Justice David Scicluna, presiding over the court, upheld his appeal.

The judge noted that Mr Vassallo had already been punished for committing the crime during one of the suspended jail terms and for breaching the probation order.

His two-year suspended jail term had already been put into effect by another court and he had already been fined for breaching probation. For these reasons the judge cleared him of the offences.

The judge also noted that Mr Vassallo was making a great effort to change his ways and decided to extend the period of the 13-month suspended jail term for a further three years. This reduced his jail term to three years.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Charmaine Cherrett appeared for Mr Vassallo.