Briton Daniel Holmes was treated unfairly. Persons charged with similar charges did not even face a jury. Many lawyers had come and gone with the family of the accused having to sell their property to finance their son's defence, his defence said.

With both the Attorney General and the defence declaring they have no more evidence to present, Holmes’ lawyer, Franco Debono proceeded to file his submissions, starting by mentioning a number of similar cases and how his “new client” suffered from day one – the day he was arraigned in court until today. 

He said that in other cases the accused were tried at summary proceedings in a Magistrate's Court, while Holmes faced a trial by jury. Quoting from a case list exhibited by the Attorney General's representatives, the lawyer read how two men faced similar charges but were given a jail term of six and eight years.

Long jail terms have only been handed when the amount of drug is substantial - 12 years imprisonment over 10 kilos and 18 years for almost 20 kilos of drugs.

Dr Debono said that the amount found at Holmes's residence was about a kilo. Dr Debono listed several grievances, including lack of legal assistance during arrest; the unfettered discretion of the Attorney General in deciding if a case would be tried by a magistrate or a jury; lack of distinction between cultivation for personal use and cultivation with intent to traffic; and procedural irregularities where the Attorney General twice asked the court to start the compilation of evidence afresh.

The saga of 35-year old Daniel Holmes dates back to his arrest in June 2006, when he was arrested outside his Gozo apartment. Police searches revealed Holmes was growing cannabis plants inside his residence, which plants he argued were only for his own use.

Lawyers Victoria Borg and Chris Falzon Scerri are appearing for the AG, Dr Noel Bartolo is representing the Registrar of the Criminal Court while Dr Joseph Ellis is representing the Registrar of the Gozo Court. Mr Justice Anthony Ellul put the case off to July 15  for judgement.

During the constitutional case legal aid lawyer Kevin Mompalao told the court that legal aid lawyers are paid from the same budget of the Attorney General, resulting in a situation where the defence lawyer is effectively paid by the prosecution.

The lawyer took the witness stand in the constitutional case filed by Daniel Holmes, who on 31 October, 2013, was handed a 10 and a half years jail term and fined €23,000 over trafficking a kilo of cannabis.

Represented by his new lawyers, Franco Debono and Michaela Spiteri, the convicted Briton filed against the Attorney General, the Police Commissioner and the Registrar of Courts, arguing that judgment delivered by the Court of Appeal should be declared null and void on the basis of discrimination and procedural errors. He is also requesting the constitutional case to declare that his right to a fair trial was violated.

Dr Mompalao said his office is mainly a general practice but he does take on criminal cases, however there are legal firms which specialise in criminal defence.

The witness exclaimed that given the volume of work at the Gozo courts, there was a time when everyone was a legal aid lawyer, but that changed. Questioned about the selection criteria, Dr Mompalao said that before he became a legal aid lawyer, he had been interviewed by a board and then appointed by the Minister of Justice.

Dr Mompalao represented Holmes for a year, but was not the lawyer who represented him at his arraignment. He said that he had no problem assisting him and always contested the charges. “When he told me the drug was for his personal use, I believed he had a strong case", the lawyer concluded.

Next on the stand was Daniel Holmes's father, Mel. He told the court that his son Daniel had no means to hire a lawyer. He had no money at all and was forced to seek legal aid.  

Mel Holmes explained that in December 2006, legal aid lawyer Kevin Mompalao was assigned Holmes's case. "At first he could not communicate with my son, but nevertheless he was supportive and helpful. I admire his honesty in telling us that he was not experienced enough to represent my son, and for Daniel's best interest we should hire a private lawyer", Mel Holmes said.

"It took us 12-months to find another lawyer. At first we approached Dr Manuel Mallia, but after six months he still had not committed to our case. We tried the British High Commission and they supplied us with a short list of lawyers. I'm not sure what expertise these lawyers had but the list was at best useless", the witness said.

In April 2008, Dr Mompalao informed Holmes's relatives that the prosecution had terminated evidence. The family assumed that the defence would start arguing their side, "but unfortunately it did not.  I believe Dr Mompalao  had good intentions but nothing much was done",  the accused’s father said.

The witness said that acting on Dr Mompalao’s advice, the family sought a private lawyer. From the witness stand, Holmes's father told the court, "we have relatives in the UK who work with a lawyer's firm and they advised us to appoint a lawyer from Maltese firm Fenech &  Fenech. Eventually Dr Kenneth Grima was chosen".

Feeling in dire straits, the family wrote to Fair Trials  International. "We explained that Daniel couldn't understand court proceedings, the public address systems didn’t work, no progress was registered and the legal system was chaotic at best.

I asked for help  - they wrote to the AG and the chief justice demanding the accused is  given transcripts in English".

A copy of the case file was subsequently given to Daniel Holmes. After being arrested, Daniel Holmes was assigned legal aid lawyer Chris Said, however the accused believed that the same lawyer was being prosecuted against and demanded a replacement. Meanwhile with the help of some friends who pooled in funds, Daniel appointed Dr Vincent Galea. But his son told his father that on 21 December, in court, Dr Galea walked out on him stating he could not be bothered to travel to Gozo anymore, Mel Holmes said.

Franco Debono pointed out that the family of the accused had to sell their property to finance their son's defence. Lawyer Joe Ellis countered that this changed nothing, "Italian Prime Minister Guglio Andreotti had to sell his stamp collection to fund his defence", the lawyer argued.

Cross examined by Dr Ellis, the witness said that at first he believed Dr Galea was a legal aid lawyer who walked out on the accused, and advised his son to request his replacement. "It was a misunderstanding as at the time my son tried to run his own show.

Then I got involved. I had a meeting with the British High Commissioner and  requested a representative from their office attends the proceedings. They gave us a list of lawyers, but we chose someone else and I paid for my son's lawyer", the witness said.

Questioned if the family or Holmes himself ever complained against the legal aid system, Mel Holmes replied that he did not complain against Dr Mompalao as he had fully supported them and was a good and nice man. However a recurrent issue with Holmes's defence lawyers was that neither wanted to challenge the legality of the arrest. "One of them told me to get real as this is not television", he said.