A man who two years ago was caught red-handed trying to rob a store in Marsa has had an effective jail sentence converted to a probation order on appeal. 

Neil Zammit was 25 when he and four other young men were caught by the police skulking around il-Moll tal-Ħatab at around 1am on a Saturday in September 2022, after police were tipped off that suspicious people wearing dark clothing had been spotted in the area. 

Upon arraignment, all five admitted to the charges brought against them. Zammit was charged with attempted aggravated theft, damaging third-party property and recidivism. 

While three of the other accused were conditionally discharged with a fourth being placed on probation, Zammit was sentenced to an effective two-year jail term, in no small part thanks to his criminal record. 

While his lawyers appealed the sentence, Zammit was granted bail in the interim.

The first court had remarked that not only was his criminal record unpleasant, but it also was evidence of a person who “has learned nothing from the past and has completely ignored the various benefits granted to him by the courts”. 

This is what partially informed the decision to set down an effective jail term as punishment. 

In her judgment, Madame Justice Natasha Galea Sciberras said that, based on the circumstances the first court was faced with, it was “justified” in handing down the sentence that it did.

She agreed with the first court, which said that based on his behaviour and a social inquiry report, it was found that it was not the case that the accused wanted help but wanted only to exploit legal tools at his disposal.

However, in the time since the sentence was handed down, the accused had been regularly seen by a probation officer, who testified that the appellant had started to work full-time and introduced a different structure to his life while keeping away from certain company that encouraged him to use drugs. He had in fact passed a number of drug tests in the interim. 

Zammit was found to be continually living a stable life with his partner and their children and even changed careers to improve his family’s financial standing. 

His probation officer testified that there was evidence that progress had been made in his life and that there appeared to be no signs of trouble while he was being followed by probation officers. 

In light of this, the judge said that while the appellant’s past did not paint an encouraging picture, the court felt that given the current circumstances, it should give Zammit another opportunity to truly stay on the right path, with the continued guidance of professionals to continue strengthening his progress. 

However, the court also warned him that if he did not avail himself of this fresh start and committed other crimes, he would face the consequences for these actions as well. 

While still finding Zammit guilty of the crimes he admitted to, the court ordered that the punishment be converted to a three-year probation order. 

Lawyers Franco Debono, Jason Azzopardi and Adreana Zammit appeared for the accused.