Drug reforms don’t let traffickers off the hook, Court says in 40-month jail decision

A court has jailed a drug trafficker for 40 months after he admitted to charges of aggravated possession of ecstasy and cannabis resin. Ayman Abul-Ez Mohammed Hanafwa also admitted to charges of simple possession of cannabis plants and trafficking it.

Before Magistrate Aaron Bugeja, Hanafwa had claimed to be a drug addict who needed help and that he should be spared jail in view of his admission.

But the court, noting that the man had already been placed under a suspended sentence, said the man had thrown away an opportunity to reform himself.

The magistrate pointed out that it had already given Hanafwa the chance to change his ways by giving him a suspended sentence and just over six months later, he had been caught committing other offences.

The accused could not now expect to be given another chance, having been warned that, if he committed another crime while serving a suspended sentence, he would be jailed for both offences. “When he chose to commit the drug-related crime, months after being handed a suspended sentence, he knew that if he was caught, he would be punished for both.”

The recent amendments to drug laws did not mean that the accused could expect to escape the consequences of his actions. The amendments “did not mean that now everything goes, without consequences,” the magistrate said, also pointing out that the accused now lived in Malta and had to obey the laws of the country “not follow his whims, that is lead a life of drug abuse, thievery and criminality.”

In addition to rendering his two-year suspended sentence active, the court sentenced Hanafwa to imprisonment for 16 months, bringing the total to 40 months. He was also fined €2,000.

Inspector Jonathan Cassar prosecuted.