AD calls for judicial overhaul following confirmation of Holmes sentence

Following the court's confirmation of a 10 years and six months jail sentence on Briton Daniel Holmes, accused of drug trafficking, The Green Party called for a judicial overhaul.

After yesterday's Appeals Court sentence, Alternattiva Demokratika chairperson Arnold Cassola said: "The confirmation of the 10 year sentence in the Daniel Holmes' case shows that Maltese drug laws are in need of a total rehaul, which gives priority to the classification of different drugs, the definition of the quantification of amounts as regards trafficking, the specification of what minimum amount constitutes cultivation and the decriminalisation of drugs for personal use."

AD spokesperson for social policy, Robert Callus, said: "Once again strictly adhering to technicalities has won over common sense. For instance, according to the court experts he could have made 5000 joints from the leaves found, when in truth leaves are not smoked due to their miniscule TCH content."

He pointed out that TCH is the chemical responsible for most of marijuana's psychological effects and said that the charge of cultivation which significantly increases the sentence means nothing less that the cannabis was in a pot.

"Why should this make it a worse crime than someone who buys dried cannabis bud or resin?"

Yesterday, an Appeals Court confirmed a 10-year prison sentence for Briton Daniel Holmes, after the accused tried to get his punishment reduced in an appeal that raised the public's awareness on the harshness of Malta's drug laws.

Judges Joseph Zammit McKeon, Abigail Lofaro and David Scicluna, presided over the court of criminal appeal.

Daniel Alexander Holmes was appealing a jail term of 10 year, six months and a €23,000 fine, after facing five charges of drug possession and trafficking, four of which carried a life sentence, related to the discovery of a cannabis plant in his Gozo home. Holmes admitted to all charges ahead of a trial by jury.