Przemyslaw Trebacz’s murder conviction upheld on appeal

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

Przemyslaw Trebacz’s murder conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeal on 21 February 2019. He had pleaded not guilty to murdering Costel Catalin Cretu at Connolly Court, Cavan, between 13 and 14 October 2012.

Trebacz had admitted causing criminal damage to a door at the apartment complex on 13 October 2012. The Central Criminal Court heard that his defence was he was seeking a prostitute’s services, while the prosecution said he and another man went there to rob it; the prosecution also accepted that witness Florentina Sotir was flawed but said the case did not rely solely on her evidence.

He received the mandatory life sentence from Mr Justice Barry White on 17 February 2014. The appeal judgment by Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, sitting with Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr Justice John Edwards, found no reason to regard the trial as unsatisfactory or the verdict unsafe.