Shepherd Ganni Attard has been denied an appeal against a decision to fine him €5,000 by The Court of Appeal. The same court has also turned down an appeal filed by the authorities asking to have Attard's herd destroyed.
Attard's story dates back to 2012 when the authorities raided his farm discovering several unregistered animals. Attard was cautioned that by not registering animals this poses a public health risk and thus his herd would have to be culled. The farmer resisted this, stressing that he had been asking the authorities to register the sheep and tag them since July 2010.
In July 2017, Magistrate Joe Mifsud found Attard guilty of breaching EU and local laws by keeping the unregistered animals and fined him €5,000, payable over three years. The destruction of the herd was not ordered by the courts.
Attard filed an appeal to argue this decision, asking the courts to clear him of all charges.
In the meantime, the Attorney General (AG) also appealed the sentence, asking the courts to order the confiscation of the man's herd from his farm in San Dimitri, limits of Gharb, Gozo.
Mr Justice Giovanni Grixti, presiding over the Court of Appeal, dismissed Attard's arguments. The farmer claimed that the prosecution did not prove the existence of the animals in question. Grixti did not uphold this argument because from Attard's own testimony, it emerged that he had trouble registering the sheep and because photographic evidence existed.
Grixti stressed that the law is clear in the any owner or keeper must have its animals properly identified and registered.
For the arguments raised by the AG where it asked for the destruction of the herd, Grixti pointed out that the law points towards the confiscation, equipment, products or substances used in the commission of the crime.
He further pointed out that the animals are neither equipment nor products or substances, and that the court had no legal basis to order their confiscation.
from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/2DPsPIe
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