A 31-year-old former prostitute and drug addict has had a three-year prison sentence changed to a suspended sentence after a court deemed it opportune to reward the woman for her efforts to change her ways.

In May 2015, the woman had been found guilty by a Magistrate's court of having loitered for prostitution in Marsa. She had also been convicted, together with her pimp, of having blackmailed one of her clients to extort some €2,795 from him.

The woman had blackmailed her victim by telling him she was pregnant on account of a defective condom, that she intended to have an abortion and that she was suffering medical problems related to a bladder infection.

She was condemned to an effective jail term of three years.

But an appeals court decided today that while the convictions were being confirmed, the punishment was being revoked. It was observed that the prosecution had failed to prove that the blackmail had actually been accompanied by threats.

The court noted that the incident had taken place 10 years ago and that since then the accused had changed her ways. She had moved to Gozo where she was now raising her two young children.

Moreover, she had severed all ties with prostitution and had quit her drug habit, the court observed.

An effective jail term would undo all the progress registered and ultimately would harm her young children.

For this reason, the court changed the three-year effective jail term to a jail term of two years suspended for four years. It also revoked the order for the restitution of the extorted sum to the victim of the blackmail.