Holmes family sold off property to finance defence – lawyer

Lawyers in a Constitutional appeal filed by 35-year-old Daniel Holmes, arrested in 2006 and sentenced to over 10 years’ jail for growing cannabis in his residence, will file final submissions in writing after a court sitting today Wednesday.

Holmes was found in possession of a substantial number of cannabis plants, totalling 1kg, which plants he argued were only for his own use.

Holmes’s new lawyers, Franco Debono and Michela Spiteri, filed the case on his behalf against the Attorney General, the Police Commissioner and the Registrar of Courts, calling for the judgment delivered by the Court of Appeal to be declared null and void on the basis of discrimination and procedural errors.

Holmes is also requesting the Constitutional Case to declare his right to a fair trial was violated.

Daniel Holmes’s lawyer Franco Debono is insisting that two other men in similar charges were given lighter sentences of six and eight years, and that longer jail terms should correspond with amounts of over 10kg, which usually incurs 12 years’ jail, or 18 years’ jail for 20kg of drugs. Holmes only had 1kg of cannabis.

Debono also said Holmes suffered from a lack of legal assistance during arrest; the unfettered discretion of the Attorney General in deciding if a case is tried by a magistrate or a jury; lack of distinction between cultivation for personal use and cultivation with intent to traffic; and procedural irregularities where the Attorney General twice asked the court twice to start the compilation of evidence afresh.

Debono concluded that if an act of law is in breach of the constitution, then all judgments deriving from that act are null and void.

Legal aid

Mel Holmes, father to the accused, said his son had no finances to hire a lawyer, saying he was forced to seek legal aid from lawyer Kevin Mompalao, who serves in Gozo where Holmes was arrested.

Mompalao, who also told the court he believed that Holmes had a strong case in arguing that the cannabis was for his personal use, had been the sole source of communication to the Holmes family back in Wales.

“At first he could not communicate with my son, but nevertheless he was supportive and helpful. I admire his honesty in telling us that he was not experienced enough to represent my son, and that for Daniel’s best interest we should hire a private lawyer,” Mel Holmes said.

“It took us 12 months to find another lawyer. At first we approached Dr Manuel Mallia, but after six months he still had not committed to our case. We tried the British High Commission and they supplied us with a shortlist of lawyers. I’m not sure what expertise these lawyers had but the list was at best useless,” Holmes said.

In April 2008, when the prosecution against Holmes finished its evidence, acting on Mompalao’s advice the defendant sought out a private lawyer. “Relatives in the UK who work for a lawyers’ firm advised us to appoint Fenech & Fenech, and Kenneth Grima was chosen.”

The family also wrote to Fair Trials International, explaining that Daniel Holmes couldn’t understand court proceedings, that the public address systems didn’t work, and that no progress was being registered and saying that the legal system was chaotic at best. “I asked for help - they wrote to the Attorney General and the Chief Justice demanding the accused is given transcripts in English.”

A copy of the case file was subsequently given to Daniel Holmes.

After his arrest, Holmes was also assigned a legal aid lawyer Chris Said, but then demanded a replacement, and with the help of friends who pooled in some funds, appointed Vincent Galea. But Mel Holmes told the court that Galea walked out on him because he could not be bothered to travel to Gozo.

At this stage, lawyer Franco Debono stepped in to tell the court that the Holmes family had to sell their property to finance their son’s defence. Joe Ellis, on the part of the defendants, countered: “That doesn’t change anything. Italian Prime Minister Guglio Andreotti had to sell his stamp collection to fund his defence.”

Cross-examined by Ellis, Holmes said that he had nothing to complain against Dr Kevin Mompalao, whom he said had fully supported the family and was a “good man”.

But he said that his son’s defence lawyers never wanted to challenge the legality of the arrest. “One of them told me ‘to get real as this is not television’,” Mel Holmes said.

Dr Victoria Borg and Dr Chris Falzon Scerri are appearing for the AG. Dr Noel Bartolo is representing the Registrar of the Criminal Court while Dr Joseph Ellis is representing the Registrar of the Gozo Court.

Mr Justice Anthony Ellul put off the case for 15 July for judgement.