Malta’s appeal judges rejected Welshman Daniel Holmes’s bid to cut his ten-and-a-half-year sentence for growing five cannabis plants at his Gozo home, confirming the term on 31 October 2013.[1][2] Holmes, 35, had been convicted in 2011 and was serving the sentence at the Corradino Correctional Facility near Valletta; he had faced five charges of drug possession and trafficking, four of which carried a possible life sentence, and had admitted them all ahead of a jury trial.[1][2] The court left the 10 years and six months plus the €23,000 fine in place.[1]
His wife Marzena, who lives in St Mellons, Cardiff, had been in Malta with their young daughter Rainbow for the ruling, and his parents said the family would keep fighting.[2] They were considering taking the case to Malta’s constitutional court or the European Court of Human Rights, and hoped he could be transferred to Britain to serve the sentence.[2] His father argued that Maltese offenders accused of similar crimes received far shorter sentences.[2]
