AFM soldier cleared of cannabis possession on appeal

George Anthony Axiak, 29 from Victoria, Gozo, had received an 18-month conditional discharge last year when he had been found guilty of being in possession of cannabis resin in December 2010.

An AFM soldier has been cleared of cannabis possession on appeal, after a court held during in their investigation the police had only actually found traces of the substance, which may well have pre-dated the time specified in the charges by three years.

George Anthony Axiak, 29 from Victoria, Gozo, had received an 18-month conditional discharge last year when he had been found guilty of being in possession of cannabis resin in December 2010.

Axiak had filed an appeal, claiming that he had stopped taking cannabis some three years before being charged and that he had never consumed any drugs during his army service.

In the court of appeal, Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri was told how police had searched Axiak's car in December 2010, retrieving a CD cover which had traces of a white powdery substance and that a search of his room had recovered two cheese graters with traces of cannabis and the remnants of the “roach” end of a joint.

Whilst subsequent tests on the powder came back negative for illegal substances, the court appointed experts had reported that the graters had tested positive for traces of marijuana, but that the quantities were “insignificant,” and too small to measure.

The defence asserted that Axiak had started smoking cannabis about five years earlier and had ceased to use the drug at least three years before being arrested.

In support of this argument, Axiak pointed out that he had never tested positive for drugs during his service in the army, and this in spite of undergoing several random drug tests.

The court held that circumstances did not lead to certainty beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused was “consciously in possession of the drug at the time of his arrest”, and that because this essential element of the conviction was lacking, revoked all punishment.