A 23-year-old man who abandoned more than 2,000g of cannabis at LF Wade International Airport had his sentenced reduced by a third yesterday.Vincent Hewey was jailed for 18 months in February after he pleaded guilty to importing 2,156g of cannabis on December 17, 2008.He has been in custody since then.At an earlier Magistrates’ Court hearing prosecutors said Hewey left a large, black duffel bag bearing his name on the airport conveyor belt.It was spotted by a JetBlue staff member and taken to a Customs officer, who found the drugs inside.Analysts estimated the cannabis could fetch as much as $108,300 on Bermuda’s streets.At his sentencing in May, lawyer Elizabeth Christopher said Hewey abandoned the drugs after having second thoughts.She said he was only 19 years old at the time of the offence, and hoped to return to Canada where he had fathered a child.Ms Christopher called for a part of Hewey’s sentence to be suspended, however Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo disagreed.He insisted the substantial quantity of drugs required an immediate custodial sentence and told Hewey: “A partially suspended sentence would not be appropriate since you are not likely to remain in Bermuda.”The magistrate jailed Hewey for 18 months; a sentence Hewey subsequently appealed.Yesterday, Chief Justice Ian Kawaley ruled the sentence should be reduced to 12 months, noting the unusual circumstances.“While the offence of importation is serious in and of itself, a significant discount on the ordinary custodial term is, in my judgement, appropriate where an offender voluntarily abandons the drugs in circumstances where they are likely to be, and are in fact, found by the authorities,” he stated in his judgment.“Had the appellant handed in the bag containing the drugs and made a clean breast of it on arrival at the airport, a custodial term might not even have been required.“In my judgment, a sentence of 12 months’ imprisonment is more appropriate to give due credit for the appellant’s belated change of heart about completing the sharp end of the criminal enterprise upon which he rashly embarked.”Mr Justice Kawaley quashed the original 18-month sentence and substituted it with a period of 12 months in prison, with time spent in custody taken into account.