Unlicenced, uninsured driver has jail sentence reduced after reforming
A man who was convicted of driving an unlicensed, uninsured vehicle without a driving licence has had his sentence reduced by two months after the court heard that he had made efforts to reform himself
A court of appeal has confirmed a criminal conviction for driving an unlicensed, uninsured vehicle without a driving licence handed to a man described as having “no fear of the law”, but reduced his sentence by two months after hearing that he had made efforts to reform himself.
26-year-old Julian Cucciardi had been arraigned in 2015, accused of recidivism, driving without insurance in an unlicensed vehicle without a driver’s licence, without a seatbelt and refusing to give his particulars to the police.
The prosecution led by Police Inspector Maria Stella Attard had asked that the court disqualify Cucciardi from driving. He had admitted the charges before the court of magistrates in 2016 and was jailed for 12 months.
But he had then appealed against the sentence, arguing that the punishment was excessive. He had changed since the incident and was reformed, he said. A fine would better fit the crime, argued his lawyer.
In a brief judgment handed down on 24 June, Mr. Justice Giovanni Grixti, presiding the Court of Criminal Appeal, highlighted the fact that constant jurisprudence had established that there should be no disturbing of the first court’s discretion on punishment unless it was not within the parameters or form set down in the law.
Noting that the first court had observed this was the third time that Cucciardi had been found guilty of the same offence and ruled that the accused had “no fear of the law and no reason to obey it” and that other courts had made similar observations, the court of appeal decided that the punishment was within the parameters laid down by law.
It saw how Cucciardi had been 22 in 2015 when he was accused of breaching the same law for the third time.
The judge said he saw no reason to recalibrate the discretion exercised by the first court. But having heard the appellant make several arguments about how he had reformed and had used the vehicle in an emergency, despite having brought no evidence to sustain them, the judge saw a window of opportunity to keep the man on the right side of the law.
The court said it hoped that the appellant was truly trying to reform himself, adding that it would reduce his punishment, not because it was too harsh, but so that the man would understand that the court is also helping him reach his goals.
The man’s sentence was reduced by two months to ten months in jail.