Taser robber's prison sentence reduced to probation on appeal

A court of appeal has reduced a prison sentence handed to a thief who used a taser gun on a woman during a hold up 11 years ago

A court of appeal has reduced a prison sentence handed to a thief who used a taser gun on a woman during a hold up 11 years ago, to probation, in view of his ‘considerable progress’ in turning his life around.

Carmel Zammit had been convicted of tasering a woman in July 2008 after she withdrew money from an ATM close to the San Gwann Industrial Estate.

After being stunned with the weapon, the victim had tried to run towards her car which was parked nearby, but her aggressor got there first, snatched her handbag from the front seat and ran away.

Despite having been tasered, the woman had chased the robber, catching up with him near Mater Dei Hospital, a few hundred metres down the road. The thief had once again raised his taser, but the woman managed to talk him into giving back her credit cards, driving licence and some of her money.

He then fled, having stolen around €150. As he did so, the woman noted his distinctive, unsteady gait, which she later used to identify him from a number of suspects in police custody.

Zammit was later jailed for three years for the crime, being ordered to serve his time at the forensic unit at Mount Carmel Hospital due to health problems.

But the man also appealed, arguing that he had a physical impairment to his hand and leg which would have made it impossible for him to aim and fire a weapon.

In her decision on the matter, Madam Justice Edwina Grima, presiding the Court of Criminal Appeal agreed with the court of first instance, saying that the evidence pointed strongly to the man’s guilt.

However, the judge also noted the testimony of Zammit’s probation officer who told the court that he had made good progress in overcoming his drug addiction and had shown increased cooperation during supervision and random home visits.

The probation officer had also counselled against interrupting the psychiatric care which the man was under in order to prevent a relapse into drug abuse.

The Court, observing that Zammit had a long criminal record stretching back to 1987, was informed that the man seemed to have given up criminality since 2011.

In view of this, the court changed the man’s 3-year prison sentence into a 3-year probation and treatment order

It also declared him innocent of the charge of having held his victim against her will, remarking that her actions, “though very courageous, undoubtedly showed that at no point had she been held

against her will, not even momentarily so.”

Lawyer Kathleen Calleja Grima appeared for Zammit.