Drug business from Gozo flat

A man was so hooked on cannabis that he turned an empty room in his Għajnsielem flat into a factory for the drug, equipped with pots and strong lights, a court heard yesterday.

Still, Daniel Holmes, 34, was jailed for 10 years and received a €23,000 fine after the judge accepted the prosecution’s argument that the accused planned to sell the drug.

His lawyer, Kenneth Grima, said the man’s obsession with cannabis was so powerful that it had made him suicidal and even cost him his job. He started growing the plants to support his heavy addiction.

Dr Grima said his client had since had a daughter, now three months old, and had managed to settle down and get back on the straight and narrow.

But the prosecution tore into this argument, pointing out that Mr Holmes, who had been caught with more than a kilo of cannabis (worth around €14,000) in 2006, lived in an expensive apartment despite being unemployed.

Lawyer Nadine Sant, from the Attorney General’s Office, highlighted the fact that the drugs found in the premises had been prepared in sachets, indicating they were for sale.

Judge Lawrence Quintano took this into account when deciding on punishment.