Court of Appeal reserves judgment on three men’s sentence appeals

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Court of Appeal has reserved judgment on appeals by Gabriel Gomes Da Rocha, Eduardo Dias Ferreira Filho and Marcos Vinicius De Silva Umbelino against their sentences for sexual offences against a 17-year-old girl. The appeals challenge the severity of the terms imposed.

Da Rocha’s counsel argued the headline sentence was too high and said his age at the time should reduce his culpability. Ferreira Filho’s counsel argued that the headline sentence was outside the appropriate range and also cited his age. Umbelino’s counsel argued that his sentence did not sufficiently reflect that he was a child when the offences occurred, and that the judge’s approach to his age and mitigating factors was wrong.

The Director of Public Prosecutions argued that the trial judge had properly placed Da Rocha’s offending in the 15-years-to-life category. On Umbelino’s age, the DPP said cases must be assessed individually and argued the judge had taken his youth into account. The appeal court has yet to deliver its decision.