A man was spared a jail sentence on Thursday after a court heard that he was recovering from the drug habit after years of rejecting help.

Matthew Abela, 36, had landed a 3-year probation order and a €100 fine after admitting to attempted theft from a car while armed with a knife.

Two years later, following several missed appointments with his probation officer and failure to abide by court orders, Mr Abela landed back in court after his assigned supervisor was left with no option but to denounce his errant behaviour.

The probation officer had told the magistrates' court how all of Mr Abela's troubles stemmed from “his great drug problem” which had left him jobless.

The court had put off the case several times in order to obtain more information about his progress. The officer later reporting that Mr Abela had only kept three out of eight scheduled appointments, had supplied one urine sample and had tested positive for cocaine.

The magistrate had finally sentenced him to jail for one year. 

That prompted Mr Abela to contact the Community Service Outreach and to enrol in a rehabilitation programme which he successfully completed.

The Court of Appeal, presided over by Mr Justice Giovanni Grixti, observed that Mr Abela had also kept up regular weekly meetings with his supervisors and had registered “noticeable progress.”

Although he had missed out on “a golden opportunity” handed to him by the Magistrates’ Court, which had gone beyond its call of duty to help him, it was time for the man to end this chapter of his life, Mr Justice Grixti observed.

Noting that Mr Abela now seemed to be on the right path, the court declared that he deserved another chance, thereby converting his one-year effective jail term to a one-year term suspended for one year. 

In its final comments, the court said that the “appellant was being given greater responsibility over his life and was still in time to turn over a new leaf.”

Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi was defence counsel.