Thomas Fitchett receives suspended sentence for impeding prosecution

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

Thomas Fitchett received a two-year sentence, fully suspended for two years, at the Central Criminal Court on 7 March 2022 for intentionally impeding the apprehension or prosecution of a person he knew or believed had committed murder.

He had pleaded guilty to the charge under Section 7(2) of the Criminal Law Act 1997. Ms Justice Eileen Creedon set a headline sentence of three years, then imposed the fully suspended term on condition that he keep the peace and be of good behaviour.

The proceedings were reported on 7 March 2022. The report said Gardaí were satisfied that Fitchett had no involvement in Jonathan Ustic’s death, while evidence indicated he understood Ustic had suffered a serious assault and may have felt under duress.