A man who had admitted drug trafficking was spared jail today because of a mistake on the charge sheet.

Andre Falzon, 22, had been found in possession of 57 ecstasy pills during a party in Corradino.

He was arraigned in September 2013, admitted all charges and was sentenced to three years in jail and fined €1,000.  

A week into his prison term, he filed an appeal claiming that he had been accused of committing acrime on the night between 8 and 9 August 2013, whereas the party had been held a month later. He was let out of jail pending the outcome of the appeal.

In a decision today, the Appeals Court presided by Judge Edwina Grima noted that the man’s guilty plea conflicted with the evidence in the acts of the case, and hence his admission was related to facts which he had not committed, “at least” not on the date indicated on the charge sheet.

Consequently the court ruled that it could not close its eyes to this procedural shortcoming as if it did not exist at all, due to the fact that the conviction reflected facts which were not corroborated, even though there was an admission.

As a result the court said it had no other way than to annul the sentence, meaning that the convicted man walked free.

Lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Amadeus Cachia filed the appeal.

SHADOW MINISTER'S REACTION

In a reaction to the court's decision, the shadow minister for justice, Jason Azzopardi said that when an identical mistake was made by the police in 2012, Joseph Muscat had demanded the minister's resignation.

"Will he do the same now?"

MINISTER CALLS INVESTIGATION

In a statement this evening, Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela said he was requesting the police board, headed by Mr Justice Francesco Depasquale, to investigate the case.