A “vulnerable” 59-year-old man who was jailed for six years after admitting to burglary had his term reduced to two and a half years on appeal after the Magistrates’ Court incorrectly calculated the prison time.

Although in the original judgment the magistrate had taken the man’s psychological difficulties into consideration, when calculating the jail term, the court failed to compute it correctly and thought it was handing down the minimum, Mr Justice David Scicluna noted.

The man, from Ġzira, who is not being named to protect his identity, suffered from a personality disorder, which, coupled with his low intelligence level and negative experiences in life, made him impressionable and vulnerable, his psychiatrist had testified.

He had admitted to stealing from three houses between December 1999 and February 2000 and was jailed in November 2007.

His involvement in two of the thefts was limited to driving the getaway car, his lawyers said on appeal.

Furthermore, they argued, in his police statement, their client had said that Joseph Cini, also known as Iċ-Ċiniż, and a woman, Miriam Bouvet, used to ask him to accompany them for the thefts and he did so only because of his weak character.

Although he had said he feared Mr Cini, the man denied that Mr Cini had ever threatened him or did anything of the sort, the judge noted in the judgment.

Mr Justice Scicluna said the records demonstrated that the Magistrates’ Court had mistakenly concluded that the six-year jail term was the minimum.

The magistrate had also described the man as a professional thief when there were only two convictions on his criminal record, one in 1970 and another in 1973, which hardly made him a professional thief, the judge said.

Reducing the jail term, Mr Justice Scicluna recommended to the prison director to ensure that the man received the necessary psychiatric and psychological help.