The fate of Welshman Daniel Holmes was sealed yesterday after three judges confirmed on appeal a 10-and-a-half year jail term and €23,000 fine for cultivating cannabis at his Gozo flat.

Dressed in a cream coloured suit, black shirt and silver tie, Mr Holmes sat in the dock and listened intently as the judges tore holes into the arguments made during his appeal.

Mr Holmes was surrounded by family and friends who have campaigned hard over the past two years to have him released on the argument that the punishment he received was excessive.In fact Mr Holmes’s appeal dealt solely with this argument.

Leaving the court house, as the afternoon sunshine flooded Republic Street in Valletta following a short spell of rain, his tearful wife Marzena Holmes was too upset to speak on camera but told reporters “this isn’t over, it is not the end. It might seem like it now but it’s not”.

Mr Justice David Scicluna, flanked by Madam Justice Abigail Lofaro and Mr Justice Joseph Zammit Mckeon, said Mr Holmes had made incorrect assertions in his appeal.

While he claimed that the court appointed expert, Godwin Sammut, had included roots and stalks of the cannabis plants when weighing them, this was untrue. In his three reports, Mr Sammut had noted that the weight of the plants was of the leaves only, the judges said.

Moreover, they pointed out that Mr Holmes had been caught with 32 plants in all. The tallest plants were 120cm high, others were 60cm and the smallest plants were three centimetres high.

The weight of the leaves from these plants, according to the court expert’s report, combined with a bag that was found in the apartment containing 600 grams of dried cannabis leaves, put the total weight up to one kilogramme.

Although Mr Holmes claimed that the drugs were solely for his personal consumption and that he was an addict of the drug, the evidence proved otherwise, they said. They pointed out that small sachets had also been found in the apartment with amounts in grams written on them.

They underscored that 5,300 joints could be made from the amount of cannabis found.

The judges argued that Mr Holmes seemed to overlook the point that he had also been charged with committing a crime which in the eyes of the law was “continuous” as it was carried on for five months and was premeditated, seeing as he had imported the seeds from the UK.

In his police statement he had taken full responsibility for the plants which resulted in his friend, Barry Lee (who has since committed suicide in prison) being charged with being an accomplice.

The court concluded that the punishment meted out to Mr Holmes was well within the parameters of the law as he had faced life imprisonment but the judge who sentenced him applied the law which saw the minimum placed at four years and the maximum at 30.

Mr Holmes also argued that he had since reformed and had a wife and child yet the suffering of the family of the person who has committed a crime could not be taken into consideration by the court, the judges said.

People who committed crimes should think about what they would be putting their family through before carrying out the offence, they said.

Michael Briguglio, sociologist

“I think he should have been given a Presidential Pardon. It seems like the only way out for Mr Holmes now.

“If the Prime Minister wants to stand by Justice Parliamentary Secretary Owen Bonnici’s position in favour of decriminalising personal drug use then he and Cabinet should support Mr Holmes.”

Mel Holmes, Daniel’s father

“We didn’t expect him to be let out, obviously, but we did expect it to come down to a more reasonable sentence given all the evidence. We will be definitely taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights, whatever the Constitutional Court says. We won’t just be doing it for Daniel, we will be doing it for all the Maltese people who have supported us and also want change. They deserve a better system. We are numb... when we’re not crying we are numb.”