Ghanaian who used friend’s passport gets suspended sentence

A Ghanaian man who used his friend’s passport in an attempt not to miss an appointment in Italy has been spared an effective jail term.

Inspector Claire Borg told magistrate Monica Vella how Ata Augustine, 31, from Ghana was arrested at the airport on Wednesday evening as he was checking in to a flight to Catania using genuine documents that had been issued to someone else.

The travel docs belonged to Ata’s friend, who lived in Italy, the inspector said. Ata was leaving Malta to attend an appointment with the Italian immigration authorities during which he was supposed to have his fingerprints recorded.

Augustine pleaded guilty to charges of being in possession of and using another person’s passport and making a false statement to the Principal Immigration Officer.

The court was told that Ata needed to impersonate his friend because he was supposed to have left Malta 9 months ago.

The prosecution suggested that the court opt for an effective prison sentence, as such cases were serious and were becoming increasingly frequent.

Lawyer Joseph Ellis, appearing as legal aid to the accused, said that a suspended sentence should be imposed because of the accused’s cooperation with the police.

“He was arraigned less than an hour after questioning. It is a very early guilty plea.”

“The fact that the cases are serious and frequent should not militate against what the law provides,” said the lawyer, pointing out that the law allowed suspended sentences for serious offences.

“Why insist on imprisonment for this case,” he asked, “is it because of his skin colour?” prodded the lawyer.

Inspector Mario Haber, prosecuting together with Borg objected, arguing that similar charges had been pressed against people of all races.

“We had Ukrainians, Chinese, even Americans.”

This is the only Augustine could get back to Italy, said the lawyer.

“This guy has been here for more than a year and has not been accused of any crime in this time.” If he had then there would be grounds for custodial sentence, but clean conduct weighed in favour of suspension, said the lawyer.

The court handed the man a 6 month prison sentence, suspended for 2 years.