Man jailed for keeping weapons in car

A man who admitted earlier this month to offences under the Arms Act after police found a small armoury in his car, has been jailed.

Daniel Briffa had been charged with the unlicensed possession and carrying in public of several weapons, as well as with reckless and dangerous driving.

Briffa had been pulled over by a Rapid Intervention Unit police car after he was observed driving suspiciously. Officers found a semi-automatic Beretta pistol, ammunition, a survival knife, another bladed weapon and a knuckle duster in the car. The reason given by Briffa for being so heavily armed was that he had been threatened in the past and that he wore a lot of jewellery.

He pleaded guilty to the charges during his arraignment before his case was put off for sentencing.

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech ruled that in view of the man’s admission, the court had to find him guilty. The court noted the fact that the police did not appear to have investigated the provenance of the unemployed man’s gold jewellery – which he said was worth €25,000 – or whether it derived from criminal activity.

With regard to the punishment, the court said it had taken into consideration the nature of the crimes with which Briffa was charged, his early admission, his stained criminal record and the other circumstances of the case “among them the fact that during his interrogation, he was not fully cooperative and had refused to answer questions about the provenance of the pistol.”

For these reasons, Briffa was jailed for ten months. The court ordered the confiscation of all the weapons seized from the accused and prohibited him from holding a weapons licence for five years.