Holmes files another Constitutional claim

Daniel Holmes, the British man jailed for 10 years and six months over cultivation of cannabis, drug trafficking, possession and importation, has filed another Constitutional Application, this time demanding that time served in preventive arrest over an offence he was acquitted of is deducted from his present jail sentence.

On 2 May last year, Magistrate Edwina Grima acquitted Holmes of charges of theft. The proceedings, which were initiated six years earlier in December 2007, saw Holmes being charged with the theft of a Suzuki Samurai jeep from Xlendi Bay, Gozo. A dinghy was on a trailer attached to the jeep.

The court had ordered that Holmes is kept under preventive arrest for a year, prior to granting him bail in December 2008.

However, in delivering judgement, Magistrate Grima said that while the prosecution exhibited the statement release by co-accused Barry Lee, the prosecuting officer did not even testify against Holmes. “Although it seems that he had been questioned, no statements have been exhibited and witnesses failed to identify the men in the stolen vehicle”, the Magistrate said, acquitting Holmes.

Lawyer Franco Debono today presented a constitutional application on behalf of Daniel Holmes, arguing that his fundamental rights had been violated. The lawyer is requesting that the year spent in preventive custody back in 2007 is deducted from the current jail term being served by the British inmate. A year of preventive arrest equates to an 18-month jail term.

Commenting to MaltaToday, Dr Debono said that if Holmes had been given his right to a lawyer during the investigation, he would have been advised about the importance of a statement in such cases. “A lawyer would have given technical and legal assistance, and would have insisted with the prosecution to take a written statement”, the lawyer said.