HMA v Liston Craig Pacitti

A case has been referred to the Appeal Court held in the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh after the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has considered the matter.

Mr Pacitti pled guilty in December 2017 at Dundee Sheriff Court to a charge of culpable and reckless conduct by supplying “legal highs.” He thereafter received a sentence after reports were carried out of four years and six months’ imprisonment, reduced from six years in light of his timing of his guilty plea. The appellant had a co-accused in the same case who received the same sentence. Although the circumstances are admitted to be different, the co-accused won an appeal to reduce his sentence at the High Court to three years and eight months, whereas Mr Pacitti’s appeal on a similar basis was rejected.

The Commission are of the view a miscarriage of justice may have occurred and the Sheriff may have erred in considering the provisions contained within the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 and sentencing guidelines in relation to such drug offences. In the co-accused case the Appeal court agreed the sheriff had erred in considering his sentence. The matter will make its way through the appeal court.