Court blunder leads to overturning of trapper's sentence

A conviction for illegal trapping has been overturned after the Court of Criminal Appeal observed that the judgment was issued in another person’s name.

Charles Mifsud had filed an appeal against his sentence, which was handed down in February 2017. He had been found guilty of breaching his trapping licence conditions when he failed to dismantle his nets at a time of day when trapping was prohibited and using more than two nets. He had also been convicted of recidivism.

The court of Magistrates had fined him €2000 and permanently revoked his licence.

He had appealed on the grounds of incorrect appreciation of the evidence and excessive punishment, but during the hearing of the appeal, it was noted that there was a discrepancy between the name of the person accused and that of the person convicted – Charles Muscat.

The defence submitted that the sentence was therefore null, with the prosecution countering that although there was a discrepancy in the name, the rest of the particulars were a match.

Mr. Justice Aaron Bugeja noted that in similar cases, it had been held that a mistake in the name was an issue affecting public order and could not be derogated from by private parties.

The law states that a request for correction can be made at any stage of proceedings up to when the appeal is put off for sentencing. But in this case, no request for a correction was proposed by either party for debate before the court.

In the circumstances, the court was faced with a copy of a sentence issued to a name different to that of the accused person.

The judge said it was the duty of the courts to verify that the details of their judgments are correct , especially on signed, official copies. The discrepancy was no fault of Mifsud, said the court, saying that he had a right to receive a sentence with the correct details.

Unlike other past, similar cases, in this case there was no attempt by the Attorney General to appeal any part of the sentence, observed the court.

Citing the “very particular circumstances of this case,” the judge overturned the conviction, saying that the person condemned by the Court of Magistrates was Charles Muscat and not the appellant Charles Mifsud.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia appeared for Mifsud.