Two self-confessed drug traffickers have had their punishment confirmed on appeal, with a court rebuffing the attorney general's request for them to be given life sentences.
Justin Zahra and Wayne Pisani, now both 35, had been condemned to prison sentences of three-and-half and a three years respectively, after they registered an admission to drug-related charges last year.
That admission had come 12 years after they had been arrested following a raid at their Sliema apartment.
Twelve packets of cocaine, 100 ecstasy pills and one kilogram of cannabis resin in four blocks and 21 pieces were discovered by police on that November 2009 day during the search of the suspects’ home.
Both men were charged with cocaine trafficking as well as aggravated possession of cocaine, cannabis resin and ecstasy under circumstances denoting that the drugs were not intended solely for personal use.
Zahra was separately charged with recidivism.
When proceedings reached the trial stage last year, both accused opted to register an admission rather than face a jury.
When meting out punishment the Criminal Court had taken note of various factors including the fact that both accused had released self-incriminating statements at a time when the right to legal assistance at the pre-arraignment stage did not yet exist under Maltese law.
Both accused had cooperated
They had also cooperated fully and supplied information which led to the identification of their supplier, thus benefitting from a two-degree reduction in punishment.
The Attorney General filed an appeal following the initial sentence, arguing that the first court had applied the wrong provision of law and that drug trafficking carried life imprisonment.
The court of criminal appeal presided over by Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti, Madam Justice Edwina Grima and Mr Justice Aaron Bugeja, observed that although the judgment cited an article of law under which the applicable punishment varied between 12 months and 10 years, the first court had evidently applied another provision.
In terms of that provision, punishment varied between a minimum jail term of four years and a maximum of 30 years.
Both accused benefitted from a reduction of punishment of two degrees for supplying information which led to criminal action against their drug supplier.
In respect of Zahra, the punishment was then increased by one degree on account of the charge of recidivism.
When all was considered and given the circumstances of the case the punishment meted out by the first court fell well within legal parameters and served justice by striking a balance between the retributive and reformative aspects of sentencing.
For this reason, the court partially upheld the AG’s appeal, correcting the mistaken reference to the applicable provision of law, but declaring that the punishment was to remain unaltered.
Lawyers Veronique Dalli and Dean Hili were counsel to Zahra.
Lawyer Kathleen Calleja Grima was counsel to Pisani.