The Court of Appeal has refused Razqi Goatas’s appeal against the severity of a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for robbery and five theft offences in Wicklow town.
The judgment, delivered by Ms Justice Butler on 15 July 2025, said the appeal court found no error in the sentencing judge’s choice of a five-year headline sentence for the robbery or in the allowance made for mitigating factors. The one-year sentences for each theft were concurrent with the robbery sentence.
Goatas pleaded guilty on 4 June 2024 and was sentenced two days later by the Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court. He appealed on the basis that the sentence was disproportionate and that the sentencing judge gave too much weight to aggravating features and inadequate weight to mitigation, including his early plea and lack of previous convictions in Ireland.
The convictions arose from separate incidents on 10 and 18 February 2024. On 10 February, Goatas stole a mobile phone from a bag behind the bar of a public house. On 18 February, at about 3.20am, a man walking home in Wicklow town was pushed into a bush and robbed of his phone. The man believed Goatas might have a weapon because he kept one hand in his pocket, although the judgment says no weapon was used and none appeared to be present.
The victim’s partner heard the robbery over the phone and contacted Gardaí. The judgment says the victim later contacted AIB because his card details were on the phone. Goatas used the phone to make four purchases at a nearby filling station, totalling €232.45. Two further charges were discontinued by nolle prosequi.
At sentencing, the victim of the robbery and related thefts provided a statement describing lasting anxiety and paranoia. The appeal court described the robbery as serious and frightening, noting the late hour, physical force and the victim’s perception of a possible threat. It also noted that the offence occurred while Goatas was on bail.
The defence had submitted that Goatas was an asylum seeker of Algerian origin, had taken narcotics and was desperate for tobacco. The court recorded that no background reports or other evidence about his personal circumstances or experience in prison had been provided to the sentencing court. It said the sentencing judge had considered the mitigation presented, including Goatas’s lack of English, and that the reduction from the headline sentence fairly reflected his early guilty plea. The appeal was therefore refused.