2022-03-08
International crime gang member fails in bid to reduce sentence
Stage: Appeal
Plea: Guilty
Outcome: Munteanu later appealed the severity of the sentence on the grounds that Judge Martina Baxter had placed insufficient weight on mitigation whilst relying too heavily on aggravating factors when she imposed a custodial term on him at Trim Circuit Criminal Court last March. At the Court of Appeal today, Court President Mr Justice George Birmingham noted that Judge Baxter had applied a "significant and generous" discount to a headline sentence of 11 years, which was reduced to seven years with the final six months suspended.