A case appealed by the Attorney General saw a man with a five-month prison sentence have his imprisonment changed into a two-year suspended sentence.

Albert Caruana was found guilty of using his position as a nursing aid who performed medical care outside of hospital on an elderly woman. Further searches found hospital equipment and medicines which the patient was not entitled to.

The Attorney General argued that the first court did not have sufficient extraordinary reasons for a lower sentence than is prescribed by law to be applied, and that the difference between the minimum sentence at law and what was imposed is “excessive.”

Being found guilty, he was subject to a sentence of two to six years imprisonment, however the First Court found that the minimum two years did not address the reality of the situation, and quoted a particular article at law and had to say what special reasons merited the lower sentence given.

The AG held that the reasons given by the First Court were not special and not extraordinary, and that such a situation sends the wrong message to society. The AG also noted that the accused could have been responsible for the life of a person by performing medical care that he was not licensed to do.

The Appeals Court noted that the First Court used the particular legal article to reduce the sentence as the case was a palliative one, where the person caught abusing from their position did so to acquire free medicine with the sole aim of helping an ill person. The patient testified that if it wasn’t for Caruana’s care, twice a month, he would have lost his leg long ago

“The Court of Appeal agrees that the reasons given by the First Court are not special nor extraordinary when the accused could have helped the patient acquire what he was legally entitled to through health schemes.”

The court also noted that the accused had wanted an appeal but such an appeal was never filed (he had different lawyers at the time) and when he received the information regarding the appeal, he had thought that it was he who filed the appeal and not the Attorney General.

While the First Court found him to be a relapser, the Court of Appeal found otherwise as the time period had expired.

The Court of Appeal changed his sentence from five months to a two-year suspended sentence.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia represented Caruana. Mr Justice Giovanni Grixti presided.