A man convicted of trapping during the closed season had his fine reduced by a court of appeal which, however, confirmed his two-year licence suspension.

Lawrence Darmanin had been charged with breaching hunting laws by seeking to trap birds during the closed season, without a licence, trapping a protected species and using prohibited trapping equipment.

The incident dated back to April 2015 when two constables on patrol in the ‘Ta’ Bidni’ area in the locality of Żabbar had been alerted by birdsong and had come across hunting nets set up.

During criminal proceedings, the accused had denied the charges, insisting that he had left his caged songbirds outside “for some air” while slaughtering chickens nearby.

He claimed that his trapping equipment was set up because it was too laborious to dismantle it between one trapping season and the next.

In 2016, a Magistrates’ Court had found him guilty and condemned him to a fine of €1,500, also suspending his hunter’s licence for two years.

The accused filed an appeal, claiming that the punishment was excessive but accepting the conviction, although arguing that the judgment was null since there had been no official signed copy as required by law.

The court of criminal appeal, presided over by Mr Justice Giovanni Grixti, observed that as a matter of fact the appellant had a net set up, surrounded by caged songbirds during the closed season.

There was no reason not to believe that the man had, in fact, been trapping at the time of his arrest, even if he had been in a nearby room carrying out some other task.

The court also observed that the appellant had not asked for a revocation of his conviction but for a mitigation of the punishment.

Having heard submissions on punishment, the court reduced the fine to €1,000 but confirmed the suspension of his licence. Since the nets were not exhibited, the court said it would not be ordering their confiscation.

Inspector Jurgen Vella prosecuted.