Latvian man's sentence deemed 'too lenient'
The Court of Criminal Appeal has set aside the four year sentence given to a Latvian man of the manslaughter of a Lithuanian father-of-one whom he stabbed in the neck on the grounds that the term was unduly lenient.
In November 2006, Jurijs Princs, with an address at Cromwellsfort House, Wexford, was jailed for the manslaughter of Robertas Stravinskas, at a rented flat in Cromwellsfort House, in May 2005, but was not found guilty of his murder by a jury at the Central Criminal Court.
Following the guilty verdict Mr Justice Kevin O'Higgins sentenced Princs to four years imprisonment and backdated the sentence to the date of his arrest in May 2005. The DPP appealed the four year sentence on the grounds that it was unduly lenient.
Today the three judge CCA, comprising of the Chief Justice Mr Justice John Murray presiding, sitting with Mr Justice Michael Hanna and Ms Justice Mary Irvine deemed that the four years "fell well below the appropriate range of sentence for this kind of case" and set aside the term.
However the court decided to adjourn the matter to the next legal term in October, to allow submissions to be filed by Mr Princs, before a new sentence will be imposed.
Last November the Central Criminal Court heard that two men had been drinking wine and vodka all day when the accused, Jurijs Princs, claimed the deceased made comments insulting his girlfriend and implying he was a homosexual.
During his trial Princs gave evidence that the deceased man Mr Stravinskas had threatened him with 'some serious gang members'.
He said he had shown the deceased pictures of his ex-girlfriend who was Lithuanian, to which Mr Stravinskas replied 'I felt anger from his part and he's a stronger man. I was afraid at the time so I grabbed something and I attacked him.'
He said he stabbed him first of all in the leg and then in the shoulder.
