The Court of Criminal Appeal in Gozo presided by Chief Justice Vincent DeGaetano has rejected appeals by two defendants who were convicted of carrying out illegal development and had not adhered to a court orders to return their sites to their original state.

In one of the cases, the Court of Appeal, dismissed defendant Teddy Rapa's argument that he was not in a position to remove an illegal development as he was not allowed access to the site because of differences with his brother. The court confirmed a Magistrates' Court judgment that had condemned the defendant to pay a fine of €133,473.

The case dated back to 1997, when the Court of Magistrates (Gozo) had found the defendant guilty of having carried out development in Nadur not according to the approved permit and had fined him €233. The court had ordered him to remove the illegal development within three months against a daily fine of €58.25.

Mr. Rapa failed to comply with the court judgment and new criminal proceedings were instituted against him. In 2006, in another judgment the Magistrates' Court (Gozo), ordered the accused to pay a fine of €133,473 equivalent to 2,292 days of daily fines. The judgement was confirmed on appeal.

In the second case, John Cauchi was last year convicted of illegal change of use of a plot of land in Xewkija from garigue to an exercise yard for cattle. He was also found guilty of breaching a stop and enforcement notice issued on the same site. The court had imposed a fine of €1,500 and ordered the accused to return the site to its original state within three months against a daily penalty of €58.33.

The Appeals Court confirmed the lower court's judgment in its entirety.