The Supreme Court of Fiji has halved the jail term of a man who was imprisoned for 13 years after being found guilty of cultivating 228 marijuana plants.

The court stated this was harsh as the accused, Inoke Ratu, played the role of a “gardener” as he was looking after the marijuana on the instructions of people who were above him in the hierarchy of the operation.

Inoke Ratu was jailed by the High Court in 2016 and the Appeals Court reduced his sentence to 12 years’ imprisonment.

“The degree of the offender’s culpability would depend on how the role which the offender played should be characterised. Did he play a leading role or a significant role or a lesser role?”, Justice Brian Keith, Justice William Calanchini and Justice Terence Arnold stated in their April 25 ruling.

“If the nature and size of the operation in a particular case do not match the description of the operation in the category indicated by the number of plants, the actual size and nature of the operation should be reflected at the stage at which the judge looks at those factors which either aggravate or mitigate the offence so as to increase or reduce the relevant starting point within the relevant sentencing range.

“Having said that, if the only way in which the nature and size of the operation in a particular case does not match the description of the operation in the category indicated by the number of plants is because the operation was not as sophisticated as the category suggests, any reduction to the starting point on that account alone should be very modest.”

Inoke Ratu’s head sentence was reduced to six years and four months imprisonment with a non-parole period of four years and 10 months.