Tokens: 14
.
In
the
same
paragraph
43
,
the
Court
refers
to
the
inapplicability
of
Article
21
of
the
Criminal
Code
,
which
allows
the
court
to
go
below
the
minimum
punishment
.
First
of
all
,
this
Article
of
the
Criminal
Code
is
hardly
ever
used
as
it
has
been
supplanted
by
probation
orders
,
conditional
or
unconditional
discharges
and
suspended
prison
sentences
.
Secondly
,
the
inapplicability
of
this
Article
applies
to
both
the
Court
of
Magistrates
and
to
the
Criminal
Court
.
However
,
in
practice
,
the
Court
of
Magistrates
and
the
Criminal
Court
can
still
go
below
the
minimum
established
by
Chapter
31
in
certain
circumstances
.
Hence
,
in
cases
where
the
quantity
of
drugs
is
not
too
high
,
and
the
accused
has
filed
an
early
guilty
plea
and
has
benefited
from
the
reduction
of
the
penalty
by
one
or
two
degrees
contemplated
under
Article
29
for
persons
who
help
the
police
to
trace
the
sources
of
supply
,
it
is
possible
to
go
below
the
six
months
’
tariff
.
This
has
happened
repeatedly
in
many
cases
decided
by
the
Court
of
Magistrates
,
whether
the
person
was
a
minor
or
not
.
In
the
case
of
minors
,
it
is
not
the
first
time
that
the
penalty
was
reduced
to
just
a
fine
(
multa
)
.
In
my
view
,
there
is
nothing
to
stop
the
Criminal
Court
from
going
below
the
minimum
of
four
years
if
the
evidence
reveals
circumstances
identical
to
those
which
may
apply
before
the
Court
of
Magistrates
.
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