A Criminal appeals court halved a prison term and a fine for Michael Portelli, 30 of Santa Lucia, after he was jailed for eight years and fined €4,000 by Magistrate Marseann Farrugia last June.  

He had admitted that on 5 April 2011 and the previous three months he was trafficking heroin when he was caught with eight sachets of heroin near a school in Hamrun.   

The Appeals court presided by Mr Justice Lawrence Quintano changed the prison jail term to four years and the fine to €2,300.  This is because Portelli was not trafficking drugs in the vicinity of a school, but had parked near the school where the police stopped him to search for drugs.   

The appeals court also took in consideration on how much drugs he was trafficking. He had admitted that he had been selling drugs for three months and that he had contacted between 10 and 12 persons. The Appeal Court said that the Magistrate’s court was right when it made an arithmetic sum regarding trafficking on what Portelli himself had said. But the fact was that some of the drug he sold was so that he could buy more for his personal use.

When Portelli was caught, the amount found was that of 1.6 grammes with a purity of 27.2 per cent. Portelli himself told court that he used to sell around seven sachets or around 10 sachets, at the price of €10.

Inspector Jesmond J. Borg prosecuted while Dr. Ian Azzopardi appeared for Portelli.