Jail term reduced

Two women, found guilty of theft, have had a 14-month jail term reduced to nine months by a court of appeal.

Alberta Amato and Elaine Rapinett had been jailed for 14 months for stealing cigarette packets and batteries and relapsing in October and November 2005.

Ms Rapinett had also been found guilty of committing a crime during the operative time of a suspended jail term.

Mr Justice David Scicluna, sitting in the Court of Criminal appeal, cleared Ms Rapinett of breaching the suspended sentence as it had not been proven according to law.

In the case of Ms Amato, the judge noted that the first court had based the punishment on the wrong parameters and had not taken the value of the items stolen into account.

The court reduced the jail term to nine months for both women.