Policeman jailed for women trafficking

A police officer who was originally given a suspended jail term for trafficking in Russian women was yesterday jailed for three years following an appeal filed by the Attorney General.

The officer, whose name can not be published by court order, had been given a two-year jail term suspended for four years and fined Lm200 after he filed a guilty plea in the Magistrates' Courts. He was also interdicted for five years.

He admitted to conspiring to commit a crime between January and June, trafficking in the women between May and June, complicity in running a brothel and living off the earnings of prostitution.

He also admitted to accepting bribes and committing an offence he was in duty bound to prevent.

The Attorney General appealed claiming that the minimum punishment prescribed by law for trafficking in people was a three-year jail term.

Moreover, the law stated that if a jail term exceeded two years it could not be suspended and, therefore, the punishment handed down by the Magistrates' Court was not within legal parameters.

Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono, who presided over the Appeals Court, upheld the appeal and noted that once the jail term was over two years, a general interdiction had to be ordered as opposed to a five-year one.