The father of Welsh inmate Daniel Holmes feels “insulted, betrayed and persecuted” after repeat offender Joseph Buttigieg received a more lenient sentence than his son despite growing almost double the amount of cannabis.
“This is yet another case, of which I have found many, where a Maltese gets what many would consider a reasonable punishment, while a foreigner gets hammered,” Mel Holmes said yesterday.
On October 31, his son’s 10-and-a-half-year prison sentence and €23,000 fine were confirmed on appeal. He was sentenced in 2011 for cultivating, importing, trafficking and possessing 1.06 kilograms of cannabis.
Earlier this month, Mr Buttigieg was handed a three-and-a-half-year sentence and a €3,000 fine for cultivating and possessing 1.85kg of cannabis. The Gozitan was already serving 11 years for importing cocaine and cannabis.
In his latest case, the court accepted Mr Buttigieg’s argument that the drug was for personal use because he was a heavy cannabis smoker.
Mr Holmes had pleaded guilty to all charges against him on legal advice in the expectation of receiving a lesser sentence.
He has publicly stated that the drugs were for the personal use of himself and his co-accused, fellow Brit Barry Lee, who committed suicide in prison while awaiting trial.
According to Mr Holmes, when he was charged he was not allowed to separate the charges and plead guilty only to possession and cultivation.
Mr Holmes’s father cannot comprehend why his first-time offender son had his case heard in the Criminal Court while convicted trafficker Mr Buttigieg had his latest case heard by a magistrate.
“We really do not understand how the Attorney General can justify sending Daniel to the Criminal Court when the sentencing structures are so disparate. These cases should have been tried the other way around,” the father said.
The current Attorney General, Peter Grech, said he agreed with the decisions of his predecessor in both cases.
"Both decisions were proved right by the judgements eventually delivered by the respective courts," Dr Grech said.
"Holmes got a sentence above the 10 years allowed in the Inferior Courts, while Buttigieg got three years and six months for his second case after getting 11 years in the Superior Courts for his first case," the Attorney General continued.
"Comparisons between unrelated cases are of scarce assistance in the administration of criminal justice."
The issue of decriminalisation is on the political agenda. During Tuesday’s parliamentary Budget speech, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said society had to face up to the “challenge” of how to treat drug “victims”, admitting he was “torn” as a father on possible drug law reform.
Mr Holmes’s father calculated that Mr Buttigieg received one-third of his son’s sentence and one-seventh of the fine, despite growing almost twice the amount of cannabis, resisting arrest and being a convicted cocaine trafficker.
He also pointed out that his son was charged jointly with Mr Lee, “so technically only half of the plants were his.”
Citing other examples of what he believes are inconsistent judgments, he singled out Doreen Bugeja, who was given a three-and-a-half sentence and a €1,500 fine last April for trafficking heroin.
Ms Bugeja already had 13 drug-related convictions between 1993 and 2012, as well as other convictions.
Mr Holmes’s father said he could only conclude that his son was treated differently because he was foreign.
“It surely must send a message to the many Brits who stay over winter in Malta that they’re not wanted, and are even despised,” he said.