An elderly man sentenced to two years in jail for having permitted the defilement of a minor through the use of pornographic material has had his punishment reduced on appeal owing to a mistaken application of the law.

Giuseppe Calleja, 76, had been handed the two-year sentence by a magistrate's court in October 2013 after being convicted of having permitted the defilement of a minor. He was also found guilty of having used his computer to generate and circulate pornographic material involving two minors.

The accused's, whose name was also registered under the sexual offenders' list, filed an appeal claiming that he deserved a lesser punishment owing to a wrong application of the law by the first court.

The court of appeal, presided by Mr Justice David Scicluna, observed that the facts of the case had taken place in February 2005 and the accused's computer had been confiscated by the police in August of that same year.

In December 2007 the law was amended so that the punishment for the improper use of technology to generate or circulate pornographic material involving minors was increased by one or two degrees when the minor was under the age of 15.

Since this aggravating factor did not exist at the time Mr Calleja committed his crime, the court of appeal reduced the punishment from two years to 15 months.

However, the court saw 'no reason' to uphold a plea for an alternative punishment on account of the accused's relatively old age.

"He was certainly mature enough to realise that he was violating the law and that his actions could seriously traumatise his victim's," the court concluded.

Michael and Lucio Sciriha appeared for the defendant.