Judge suggests murderer 'reflect' upon impact of his crime
A Polish National has been sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of murdering a Romanian man who was guarding two prostitutes in a Co Cavan brothel last year.
Przemyslaw Trebacz (aged 35) of Bramble Rise, Killynebber, Cavan had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Costel Catalin Cretu (aged 38) at Connolly Court, Connolly Street, Cavan between October 13 and 14, 2012.
He had pleaded guilty to criminal damage to a door belonging to Brendan Cosgrove at Connolly Court on October 13, 2012.
The Central Criminal Court heard Mr Cretu was stabbed once in the chest and once in the back and died at the scene.
The jury of nine men and three women returned the majority verdict last December (18) of 10-2 after almost 10 hours of deliberations.
Patrick McGrath SC, prosecuting, confirmed with Detective Inspector Fergus Treanor that Trebacz has a number of previous convictions in Cavan and had committed minor offences in Poland, which were dealt with through fines.
The prosecution told the court that a victim impact statement had been written by the brother of the deceased.
Mr Justice Michael White sentenced Trebacz to life imprisonment saying that the effect the death has had on the family of the victim is something Trebacz might reflect on.
“You have been convicted of the offence of murder,” said Mr Justice White.
“The law prescribes that I must impose a sentence of life on you now in respect of the offence of murder. You did plead guilty of a second offense and 3 years will be suspended for the other offence.”
“Our law requires a victim impact statement be put before court. If you have read it you will see that every victim of a killing is either the son, daughter, mother, father or some relation that suffers a loss emotionally and sometimes financially. You can see from it the effect the death of your victim has had on his mother and brother – it is a matter you might like to reflect upon in the course of your incarceration.”
Paul Greene SC requested that the sentence be backdated to October 14, 2012.
