Jailed for 5 grammes of cannabis, resisting police

Friday, November 11, 2011 , by Waylon Johnston
Lawyer ‘shocked’ by drug sentence
A Sudanese man was yesterday jailed for three-and-a-half years after he was found carrying five grams of cannabis.
Adil Hassan Mohammed, 27, residing in Sliema, admitted to being in possession of the drug not for his exclusive use, to violently resisting the police and committing the crime in a place frequented by minors. He was also fined €2,000. In the judgement, Magistrate Marseann Farrugia said the cannabis was 4.2 per cent pure and the quantity was enough to make between 15 and 20 joints.
She made no mention of a plea bargain agreement between the defence and the prosecution to recommend a one-year jail term and a fine. The fact that plea bargaining took place between Police Inspector Jesmond Borg and defence counsel Josè Herrera is mentioned in the court proceedings.
Dr Herrera said later that “the judgement is to say the least shocking and diminishes the quality of justice being meted out”.
He said the vast majority of cases were, “thankfully”, dealt with through plea bargaining. “If this were not so, the backlog of criminal cases would explode and instead of 17 magistrates we would need 50”.