Alex Mallia, 30, was jailed for nine years and fined €20,000 (Lm8,586) after he admitted to drug possession not for personal use and dangerous driving instead of undergoing a trial by jury.

The Qormi man admitted to being in possession of two-and-a-half kilogrammes of cannabis resin which was found in circumstances denoting that it was not for his personal use on 9 March 2005 at Handaq, limits of Qormi. The resin had a street value of €18,635 (Lm8,000).

He also admitted to violently resisting the police and causing less than e1,164.69 (Lm500) in damages to the property of others.

The court, presided over by Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono, heard how Dr Nadine Sant, from the Office of the Attorney General demanded a penalty of not less than 10 years and a e23,000 (Lm10,000) fine. Defence Counsel Dr Joseph Giglio disagreed with the requested penalty.

Mr Justice Galea Debono examined a number of judgments passed on similar cases in order to guarantee uniformity.

To this end, he took into consideration the accused’s police record, the testimonies of Drugs Squad Police Inspector Norbert Ciappara, Michael Orlando and Vicky Scicluna of Sedqa and submissions put forward by defence counsel.

The court also took into consideration that the law treats cannabis resin equally as to other hard illegal drugs. However, the court said, it is well known that cannabis is less harmful than other drugs.

It was also noted that the resin had a purity of 11 per cent, that is, less than in other cases examined by the court. Mallia’s reluctance to reform his life even though he was granted a number of opportunities to get rid of his drug-related problems was also taken into consideration.