DPP v Daniel Munteanu

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: Birmingham P.
• Judgment Date: 08 March 2022
• Neutral Citation: [2022] IECA 62
• Court: Court of Appeal (Ireland)
• Docket Number: [97/21]

Between

The People at the Suit of the Director of Public Prosecutions

Respondent

and

Daniel Munteanu

Appellant

[2022] IECA 62

The President

Edwards J.

McCarthy J.

[97/21]

THE COURT OF APPEAL

Sentencing – Participating in a criminal organisation – Severity of sentence – Appellants seeking to appeal against sentence – Whether sentence was unduly severe

Facts: The appellant, Mr Munteanu, appealed to the Court of Appeal against severity of sentence. The sentence under appeal was a sentence of seven years’ imprisonment, with the final six months suspended, that was imposed on 25th March 2021. The sentence was imposed in circumstances where the accused had entered pleas of guilty to 28 counts in all, being one count of participating in a criminal organisation contrary to s. 72(1)(a)(ii) and s. 72(2) of the Criminal Justice Act 2006, as substituted by s. 6 of the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009, sixteen counts of possession of a false instrument (or a material designed or adapted to create one) contrary to s. 29 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001, and eleven counts of theft contrary to s. 4 of the 2001 Act. Two grounds of appeal were advanced. Firstly, it was said that the judge erred in identifying inappropriately high headline sentences. Secondly, it was said that there was then inadequate allowance for the mitigating factors that were present.

Held by the Court that the sentence ultimately imposed, one of seven years, with the final six months of the sentence suspended, was one that clearly fell within the available range.

The Court identified no error of principle and therefore dismissed the appeal.

Appeal dismissed.

UNAPPROVED

NO REDACTION NEEDED

JUDGMENT ( ex tempore) of the Court delivered on the 8 ^th day of March 2022 by Birmingham P.

1 . Before the Court is an appeal against severity of sentence. The sentence under appeal is a sentence of seven years' imprisonment, with the final six months suspended, that was imposed on 25 ^th March 2021. The sentence was imposed in circumstances where the accused had entered pleas of guilty to 28 counts in all, being one count of participating in a criminal organisation contrary to s. 72(1)(a)(ii) and s. 72(2) of the Criminal Justice Act 2006, as substituted by s. 6 of the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009, sixteen counts of possession of a false instrument (or a material designed or adapted to create one) contrary to s. 29 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001, and eleven counts of theft contrary to s. 4 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001.

Background

2 . The background to the case is to be found in the fact that, in late 2018, Gardaí received complaints from officers of the Bank of Ireland, indicating that a large number of offences had been committed, relating to what might be described as ATM fraud. The offences involved the attachment of hidden devices to cash dispensing machines for the purpose of reading information from cards used by the bank's customers, as well as recording PIN numbers used in connection with the individual cards. Then, the information obtained is used to create cards of other kinds e.g. loyalty cards issued by large retailers, which, so adapted, can then be used instead of a legitimate card to withdraw money. The initial complaint related to 212 ATM withdrawals, involving 28 accounts, and then, at a later stage, there was a further complaint relating to 300 withdrawals concerning 52 accounts. In total, a sum of approximately €120,000 was unlawfully taken from ATM machines. In terms of the geographic locations in relation to where ATM machines were compromised, and where individuals had their accounts accessed, they included Monaghan, Louth, Meath, Westmeath, Galway, Offaly, Kildare, Dublin and Wicklow.

3 . Gardaí mounted a major investigation, involving viewing CCTV footage linked to the ATM machines. As the inquiry progressed, attention focused on a particular vehicle, the movement of which, over a period, was plotted as matching the locations where the incidents at the ATM machines had occurred. At one point, the vehicle which become of interest was stopped with two occupants inside, one of whom being the appellant. Arising from the identification of this vehicle, an address in Navan was nominated as a place of interest. Surveillance was placed, but for a period, the investigation went cold, in part because it appears the appellant may have returned to his home country of Romania for some time in or around Christmas 2018. On 28 ^th February 2019, a search warrant was...