Ridiculous sentences

In my interview in The Sunday Times back in September, I had stated that I think that certain penalties in our laws are ridiculous. Today's case of a father who raped his three daughters is a glaring example.

For repeatedly raping his three daughters since they were just 11 and 12 years old, he gets to serve 10 years in prison (less with remission) and fined €3,100.

Three lives have been ruined, three girls have gone through an irreparable trauma brought about by the man who was supposed to protect them - and 'justice' serves out 3 years jail-time and a €1,000 fine for each girl.

And what's going to happen once he's out? I can't dare to imagine what his sex drive would be like after 10 years locked up in prison. He did this to his daughters, he might do worse to others. Should life-terms be meted out to child rapists? Should we discuss offering voluntary surgical castration to sex offenders (like Germany and the Czech Republic do)?

In the meantime, someone who cultivated marijuana for his own use without harming anyone else except himself, is still in prison pending an appeal and facing a sentence of... guess what... 10-and-a-half years jail-time and a €23,000 fine.

Ridiculous doesn't even begin to describe the situation. And this is what a big overhaul of our criminal code must address. Starting from differentiating between crimes in which the criminal harms others, and de-criminalizing those in which the accused harms only himself.

Il-kont tad-dawl u l-ilma...qed tinsteraq?

Ftit tal-ġimgħat ilu, il-gazzetta The Malta Independent investigat kif is-sistema l-ġdida ta’ kif qed taħdem il-kontijiet l-ARMS kienet qed twassal biex il-konsumaturi jirċievu kontijiet ogħla milli suppost (ara hawn). Diversi ekonomisti u akkademiċi wkoll tkellmu fuq dan u spjegaw kif dan qed jiġri, fosthom Marie Briguglio.
Kif qed jiġri dan? Ħa nipprova nispjega ftit kif taħdem is-sistema. Ir-rati li bihom tħallas għal kull unit mhumiex l-istess. Biex jiġi inkuraġġit li kemm jista’ jkun wieħed ma jikkunsmax aktar milli suppost, hemm skali (brackets) ta' prezzijiet li jogħlew skont il-konsum. Kif tindika t-tabella hawn taħt, jekk ma taqbiżx ċertu ammont ta' units f'sena, tħallas prezzijiet b'tariffi aktar baxxi, u aktar ma wieħed jikkonsma, aktar jiswew il-units. S'hemmhekk sempliċi.

Sa ftit tas-snin ilu, għalkemm numru ta’ familji kienu jirċievu kont ta’ stima kull xahrejn jew kull tlieta, il-kont attwali kien jinħadem fuq perjodu ta’ sitt xhur. Dan kien ifisser l…

Il-ħarba tac-Chief-of-Staff

Probabli dan ikun isem tajjeb għal xi film. Il-ħasra hija li qed ngħixuh bħala realtà. Keith Schembri din il-ġimgħa kellu jidher il-Qorti fil-kawża ta’ libell li fetaħ hu stess kontra Simon Busuttil. Il-Qorti mar, imma ma marx biex iwieġeb. Mar biex jargumenta li m’għandux iwieġeb. Għax skont hu, jinfluwenza l-inkjesti Maġisterjali li qegħdin isiru.
Il-Maġistrat iddeferixxa l-każ, u għalissa Keith Schembri ħarab milli jwieġeb fil-Qorti. Il-ħarba kompliet wara l-kawża wkoll pero’ hekk kif il-ġurnalist bravu tat-Times of Malta Jacob Borġ, prova jieħu t-tweġiba ta’ Keith Schembri għal mistoqsija “ta’ min hi 17 Black?”, li Keith Schembri ftit ilu qal li kienet parti mill-business plan tiegħu. Araw il-video ta’ din il-ħarba, li telqet mill-Qorti u baqgħet sejra sa Kastillja (ara hawn). Fiha tifhmu kif tnaqqret id-demokrazija f’pajjiżna, hekk kif apparti li ma jweġibx mistoqsija leġittima, Keith Schembri sa jdur fuq il-ġurnalist u jheddu li hu kien “iħallaslu l-paga”.
Keith Schembri f’kummen…

“Ara kemm trid biex din naqtgħulha rasha”

Matul din il-ġimgħa, bħal ħafna minnkom, attendejt għaċ-ċelebrazzjoni tal-festi tal-Indipendenza fuq il-Fosos tal-Floriana, organizzati mill-Partit Nazzjonalista. Kienet okkażjoni sabiħa fejn aħna l-uffiċċjali tal-Partit, Deputati, Kunsilliera u kandidati, stajna niltaqgħu mat-tesserati u l-attivisti għal skambju ta’ ideat u ta’ proposti. Mhux biss mal-attivisti, iżda anke ma’ nies li mhux soltu jkunu attivi fil-Partit Nazzjonalista iżda li avviċinawna għall-ewwel darba f’dawn il-festi. Tassew kienet okkażjoni sabiħa biex nerġgħu nikkargaw bl-enerġija għal kampanja li issa ġejja quddiemna għall-elezzjoni tal-Kunsilli Lokali u tal-Parlament Ewropew. Għal dan il-għan, servew ukoll bħala okkażjoni fejn jiġu preżentati l-ewwel seba’ kandidati li l-Eżekuttiv tal-Partit Nazzjonalista approvajna biex jikkontestaw f’isimna l-elezzjonijiet tal-Parlament Ewropew: Peter Agius, Dione Borġ, Michael Briguglio, David Casa, Roberta Metsola, Frank Psaila, Francis Zammit Dimech. Grazzi lkoll tal-impenn…

Mark Anthony Sammut

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