This week in crime featured an alleged brothel keeper, a man who sexually assaulted a teenager on the bus, a man who brutally assaulted his partner after a five-day-alcohol-binge, and the withdrawal of an appeal for a brutal murder which took place in 2019.
As usual, it won’t be pleasant reading, but here are some of the most notable cases from this week in crime.
29-year-old Lenuta Andreea Cucoranu is facing 109 charges relating to the alleged running of brothels where she is suspected to have used false documents to lease properties for this purpose.
Cucoranu, who has been in Ireland for 12 years but has no fixed address, is also facing 11 charges in relation to money laundering, one charge of participation in a criminal organisation, 17 for organised prostitution, 17 for brothel-keeping allegations, 40 for using false documents.
The court heard that despite the length of time Cucoranu has been in Ireland, she has no history of employment here. She also has a brother and sister residing in the state and has indicated that she will reside with relatives in Irishtown, Straffan, Co. Kildare while on bail.
The catalogue of charges were brought against Cucoranu in two stages with 16 charges laid last year and a further 93 last February.
Her arrest followed what has been described as a “complex” operation by the Organised Prostitution Investigation Unit in the Garda National Protective Services Bureau.
Witnesses in the case include a number of individual prostitutes as well as landlords of the properties involved in the alleged criminal activities of Cucoranu who transferred a sum of approximately €12,000 from her bank account in a 10-week period despite having no apparent source of income.
The state has been granted more time to prepare a book of evidence for the case in circumstances where the accused is yet to indicate a plea.
An appeal of a murder conviction has been withdrawn from the Court of Appeal in respect of Daniel Murtagh.
In December 2019 Muragh beat his partner Nadine Lott to the point where she was “completely unrecognisable” inflicting “grotesque” injuries from which she did not recover.
Senior Counsel Michael Bowman appearing on behalf of Murtagh sought leave to withdraw the appeal yesterday which Mr. Justice John Edwards granted.
In October 2021 then 34-year-old Murtagh was given a mandatory life sentence for the murder of 30-year-old Lott in Arklow, County Wicklow.
The brutal assault, which Murtagh’s legal counsel described as a “bloodbath”, was argued to have been the result of the consumption of a cocktail of drugs and alcohol and a manslaughter charge was sought.
At the time a jury rejected an argument put forth by the defence that Murtagh was too intoxicated at the time of Lott’s murder to have formed the intention to kill her.
He was originally incarcerated in Wheatfield Prison but was moved to the Midlands Prison in 2022 after receiving a series of death threats.
A man who brutally assaulted his partner after consuming alcohol for five consecutive days has avoided jail after his sentence of 1-year-and-9-months was suspended by Judge Orla Crowe.
The court heard that the assault took place on St. Steven’s night, 26th of December 2022 when Lithuanian Dainius Sakevicius attacked his former partner at the home they shared at Wilford Court, Corke Abbey, Bray, Co Wicklow.
Sakevicius (54) who came to Ireland 18 years ago came into the bedroom of the house approximately 30 minutes after his partner had gone to bed at 10:10pm looking for a speaker.
The court heard he viciously assaulted his now former long term partner by repeatedly punching her repeatedly causing injury to her forehead, right eye, nose and mouth. The victim presented to hospital suffering from bruising and swelling to her face,soreness in her arms and a loose tooth.
When Gardaí attended the scene of the assault Sakevicius was intoxicated to the point that he could not be interviewed. He was later charged with assault.
His former partner, with whom the court heard he is now on good terms with, made a statement of withdrawal in the matter and declined to make a victim impact statement.
The court heard that Sakevicius has a long work history and has paid €4,000 in medical costs associated with the assault.
A 27-year-old man pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old schoolgirl on a bus after he sat beside her and attempted to put his hand up her skirt.
Indian national Vimalkarthick Balasubramaniam placed a bag on his lap after sitting beside the girl who was alone on the bus.
The teenager told a specialist garda interviewer that Balasubramaniam put his right hand on her left thigh and rubbed her leg with his thumb, underneath her school skirt.
The victim said she believed this to be an intentional act and informed her family of what had happened when she went home.
The court heard that Balasubramaniam wishes to pay compensation to the victim with his legal representative saying that he has lost his job since the incident and that any money he is able to offer the victim is running low.
The case was adjourned to allow for the lodgment of a victim impact statement should the girl wish to enter any.
A man who, with his wife, benefitted from the proceeds of crime in the amount of over €870,000 stolen from Virgin Media has been jailed for 2 years.
Dubliner John Murray (43) and his wife Kellie Walton (42) “squandered” the proceeds of the criminal behaviour on foreign holidays, premium television subscriptions and phone subscriptions, Dublin Central Criminal Court heard.
A total sum of €872,470 was transferred to Murray’s Bank of Ireland account over a ten year period.
The court heard that Walton, who was previously employed by Virgin Media (then TV3) as a payroll admin, sent an average of €80,000 per annum to her husband’s bank account which the pair used to finance the holidays etc.
Sentencing Judge Martin Nolan said that Murray should have known at a very early stage that the monies were the proceeds of fraud with the court hearing that Walton has discovered a glitch in Virgin Media’s payroll system.
“Nobody can launder this amount of money and not go to prison,” said Nolan.
The court heard that despite the huge amount of money that was defrauded from Virgin Media, which is said to be at a substantial loss because of the matter, the couple are now living in reduced circumstances.