Judges reduce punishment to cannabis pusher

A man who had been jailed for eight years and fined Lm8,000 for cannabis trafficking had his jail term and fine reduced on appeal.

Walter John Cassar had admitted to conspiracy to deal in cannabis and trafficking in the drug after the defence and the prosecution filed a joint application in which they agreed that he ought to be jailed for seven years and fined Lm7,000. But the Magistrates' Court jailed him for eight years and fined him Lm8,000.

The Court of Criminal Appeal - presided over by Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano, Mr Justice David Scicluna and Mr Justice Joseph Micallef - noted that although the first court did not have the obligation to hand down the punishment agreed upon by the parties it had not justified why it had not done so. The court therefore reduced the jail term to seven years and the fine to Lm7,000.