A mental deterioration of judgement that was deliberately self-induced in the irresponsible quest for pleasure should never be accepted as an extenuating circumstance. It is more accurately explained as an aggravating factor.

Isn’t insanity due to intoxication, even if voluntary, a defence at law?

[Daphne – Is it? I was given to understand that it’s an exacerbating factor and not a mitigating one, as in drunk driving. Do you get a lower prison sentence for stabbing somebody in a cocaine-fuelled frenzy than you would if you hadn’t taken cocaine? No, you don’t.]

Malta’s very own ” hanging judge”. He is missed.

‘…Volunteer Nimrod Mifsud told timesofmalta.com later that when a police sergeant arrived on the scene where Mr Packham was being obstructed by hunters, the officer called “l-Ghaqda Kumitat” to ask how to handle the situation.

When he hung up, the officer told Mr Packham and his team to continue walking along the footpath without filming….’

They got Joseph by the balls, erm, uccellino.

And if Mallia is to be taken at face value the mess seems compounded at cabinet level, serious doubts who the police commissioner answers to.

‘…Mr Micklewright also said that the organisation had received a letter from the Data Protection Commissioner following the judicial protest launched against Mr Packham by the FKNK.

They claimed a conflict of interest in the matter as an associate of Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia was also a recipient of the letter.

Dr Mallia is the minister responsible for the police and should not have been included in this delicate matter, Mr Micklewright said.

Contacted for his reaction, the minister insisted he was no longer involved in the law firm Emanuel Mallia & Associates, to which the letter had been sent.

He added that the amount of public funds spent on enforcement during the hunting season was equivalent to €43 per hunter. He argued that if each hunter received four quails bought from a supermarket, €125,000 would have been saved.

He also said volunteers spent a total of 20 hours undergoing police questioning this year.

“I believe that this time could have been much better spent catching criminals rather than questioning those trying to stop the illegal slaughtering of birds,” he said….’

Trust Lidl Mallia and his home economics.

Well if a drug addict was, due to his addiction, insane when committing murder, then imprisonment may not be the correct punishment.

[Daphne – Oh no? Then what would you do with somebody like David Schembri who, in a cocaine-fuelled frenzy, broke down the door of his ex-girlfriend’s flat and stabbed her more than 50 times in front of their little daughter? Her ravaged body was found wedged between the kitchen cupboards, where she had been cowering. He is serving life in prison. And what about Charles Muscat who, after a night and day snorting cocaine, rushed out into the Mosta street where he lived and began shooting wildly, killing one of his neighbours who was out fixing his car? And drunk drivers who mow people down – what about them? You see, David, what you fail to do is make the distinction between derangement that is not of our choosing (psychotic episodes that are the result of congenital mental illness) and ‘insanity’ that we have chosen and for which we are fully responsible. This last includes the decision to take mind-bending drugs – and yes, of course we should be punished if we cause harm to others because we have deliberately chosen to alter our state of mind.]

As I had stated, I disagree with decriminalisation. However since imprisonment is still on the statute book for first time drug users, the criminal law should be amended to abolish this punishment in this case.

Not all drug addcits are in prison for dealing. Others commit crimes such as theft to fund their habit. Some in fact argue that drug taking should not be a crime as it is a “victimless crime”, however this is often not the case.

Some of Joseph’s friends, business partners are going to be happy with this.

Why not just increase the COLA as recently suggested. At least the employers will get some credit.

What do you expect from a social government?

But that’s not what Muscat is proposing which makes this a ‘very’ dodgy strategy.

Who knows, maybe next year it will be a million under the mattress!

So true.