The Court of Appeal has dismissed Przemyslaw Trebacz’s appeal against his conviction for the murder of Catalin Cretu, finding no reason to conclude that his trial was unfair or the verdict unsafe.
The judgment, delivered on 21 February 2019, said the appeal concerned Trebacz’s conviction on 18 December 2013 for Mr Cretu’s murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on 17 February 2014. The killing occurred at an apartment at 2 Connolly Court, Connolly Street, Cavan, on the night of 13 October 2012.
The prosecution case relied significantly on evidence from Florentina Sotir, who was in the apartment with the deceased and another woman known as “Stropp”. The court noted that Ms Sotir’s earlier accounts to gardaí were untruthful or incomplete, and that her credibility was central to the trial. The defence argued that her position in the apartment meant she could not have seen the stabbing as she described it.
The appeal raised complaints about the trial judge’s treatment of Ms Sotir’s evidence, directions concerning alleged lies by Trebacz in interviews, the Garda investigation, the account of the defence case and the available verdicts, and the judge’s references to “Soviet attack” during jury deliberations.
The Court of Appeal rejected the challenges concerning Ms Sotir’s location and the trial judge’s summary of her evidence. It said the judge fairly summarised the relevant evidence and was right to leave credibility to the jury. It also rejected the argument that a special warning about her reliability was required under Irish law.
On Trebacz’s alleged lies in interviews, the court said the judge told jurors that any untruths could affect his credibility but could not be used to bolster the prosecution case. The court considered that direction prudent and rejected the appeal ground.
The court also dismissed the investigation complaint, describing proposed explanations about missing witnesses and evidence as speculation. It found that the jury had been told about the possible verdicts, including acquittal and manslaughter, and rejected claims that the judge’s references to “Soviet attack” showed partiality or could have prejudiced the jury.
The court concluded that the prosecution had sufficient evidence to support the conviction and dismissed the appeal on all grounds. The judgment addresses the appeal only; it leaves the conviction and life sentence in place.