Money launderer with connections to crime boss Barry Young has jail term halved
A 27-year-old Galway man with connections to "Scourge of Sligo" crime boss Barry Young has had his five-year prison sentence for money-laundering halved after appeal.
At the Court of Appeal today, Mr Justice Michael MacGrath said that the sentence of seven years in prison with the final two years suspended was disproportionate, as he resentenced Brian Cummins to two and a half years.
Cummins, of Balgaddy Road, Tuam, Co Galway pleaded guilty on the date his trial was due to get underway to money laundering contrary to S7(1)(b) and 7(3) (b) of the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010.
The sentencing court heard that during the course of an investigation into organised crime, gardaí arrested Barry Young in December 2019. His phone was seized and analysed and the material found on it showed Young as the leader of an Organised Crime Gang (OCG) consisting of at least 20 members.
Barry Young
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The mobile phone was found to contain a contact known as 'Tuam' and further enquiries revealed that 'Tuam' was the appellant, Brian Cummins.
WhatsApp messages between the pair brought to light information about a house that had been the subject of criminal damage in October 2019. They also revealed that a sum of €1,000 was transferred using an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) from Cummins to another named man, believed to be an associate of Young, in November 2019. Gardaí believed the transfer was linked to the criminal damage at the house.
Cummins was sentenced to seven years in prison with the final two years suspended by Judge Brian O'Callaghan at Galway Circuit Court on July 19, 2024.
At the Court of Appeal in June, Philip Sheahan SC, for Cummins, argued the judge had erred by imposing a sentence that was 'disproportionate' in all circumstances.
He referenced a number of comparator cases where the amount of money involved was much higher, yet the headline sentence had been lower than in this case.
He submitted the amount of money involved in the money laundering charge did not exceed €1,000 and would not therefore have been out of place had it been dealt with in the District Court, where the maximum sentence is 12 months.
In delivering judgement today, Mr Justice MacGrath said the sentencing judge had erred in principle by setting the headline sentence at seven years, which had a knock-on effect on the sentence ultimately imposed. He said that seven years with two suspended was disproportionate, meaning the court had to quash this sentence and resentence the appellant.
Mr Justice MacGrath said that the appellant's culpability was high, as he knew what he was doing, nevertheless the role he played had to be measured against the amount involved, which was €1,000.
He set a headline sentence of four years and, after taking into account the fact that the appellant had entered a guilty plea, his age at the time, and his history of drug dependency, the judge reduced this to three years, with the final six months suspended.
In July 2023 father-of-two Young, with a previous address at Geldof Drive, Cranmore, Co Sligo, pleaded guilty at the Special Criminal Court that he, between October 4, 2019 and January 15, 2022, both dates inclusive, directed the activities of a criminal organisation.
Young, who had 81 previous convictions at the time of his arrest, was jailed for 11 years after being described by the sentencing judge as a "scourge on the people of Sligo for a number of years".
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