Court rules 21-year punishment not excessive

A man jailed for 21 years in 2007 today lost an appeal where he claimed that the punishment was excessive.

He had also claimed that the judge had given an incorrect interpretation of the law to the jurors.

Louis Mallia, 40, had been found guilty of the attempted murder of Gordon Calleja at City Gate, Valletta and the illegal possession of a penknife on September 30, 2004.

With 37 convictions on his criminal record since 1985, including 13 punishable by a jail term, he claimed that “the presiding judge during the summing up to the jurors gave an incorrect interpretation of the law that could have left a determining effect on the jurors”.

The court dismissed this claim saying the judge had given a correct version of events to the jurors during the summing up of the trial. It concluded that the judge had also taken into consideration all the relevant facts before handing down judgment.