An Italian father of three was spared repatriation by a criminal court of appeal which felt this measure was unwarranted in view of his ties with Malta.
Carmelo Ciranna, 42, for the past 18 years made Malta his home, setting up a family with his Maltese partner and acquiring a good grasp of Maltese.
The man admitted to resorting to crime while battling his drug problem, stealing jewellery, cash and other items on nine separate occasions between Christmas Day in 2016 and January 11, 2017.
A Magistrates’ Court had declared him guilty and condemned him to an effective jail term of seven years, besides ordering his repatriation to Italy on the grounds that the accused posed “a threat to public order.”
The court upheld the appellant’s arguments pointing out that repatriation would cause an upheaval in the life of the accused and his family
Upon appeal, reference was made to EU Directive/2004/38/EC which called for equal treatment of all EU citizens, including their right of free movement. Any restriction to such right was only justifiable if the person posed a “real, present and sufficiently serious threat” to society.
The court of appeal, presided over by Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi, observed that the accused had firm family ties in Malta, had a social security number and spoke fluent Maltese “so much so that proceedings were conducted in Maltese without the need of an interpreter”.
The court upheld the appellant’s arguments pointing out that repatriation would cause an upheaval in the life of the accused and his family and would violate the man's fundamental rights.
The court also reconsidered the prison sentence after taking into account legal considerations, as well as various mitigating factors such as the accused's early guilty plea, his cooperation with the police, even assisting them to retrieve the stolen property, as well as his addiction which was the prime motive behind his wrongdoing.
In the light of all this, the court confirmed the man's guilt but reduced the jail term to five years while revoking the repatriation order. The payment of €1239.47 by way of court expenses was confirmed.
Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi was defence counsel.