Suspended sentence for extradited man over human trafficking
The defendant also admitted two counts of transferring criminal property
- Published
A 41-year-old man, who was extradited from Germany to Northern Ireland, has been given a 20-month sentence, suspended for two years for trafficking a woman.
Adrian Vasile Popescu, with a previous address at Damascus Street in Belfast, pleaded guilty to a charge of human trafficking on 5 October 2017.
He admitted that on this date he "arranged or facilitated the travel" of the woman with a view to her "being exploited".
The defendant also admitted two counts of transferring criminal property to the value of £4,735.
Five months in custody
Belfast Crown Court was told that Popescu has spent five months in custody since he was detained in June under an international arrest warrant.
The judge, at Belfast Crown Court, said the 41-year-old had "no previous convictions in Northern Ireland and is not known to have any convictions in any other jurisdiction".
The court heard Popescu came to Northern Ireland shortly before his offending and "fell in with other Romanians living here".
The defendant moved to Germany with his partner in 2018 and has been in employment since then.
The judge said she had received a "significant amount" of information about Popescu's offending and did not intend to sentence him as a "dangerous offender".
"This type of criminality is appalling and it must be stopped".
"In this case, it has involved the sexual exploitation of a human being for financial gain, with no regard to the impact that it would have on her".
The judge added there was "no direct contact or connection between the offending against the woman and the amounts of money transferred abroad".
'The prospect of employment remains'
The judge said she noted that the defendant had "spent five months in custody" and that "in the time that has elapsed since this offending, you have been employed and the prospect of employment remains".
"In the circumstances, and somewhat exceptionally, not only will the sentence that I impose be one of 20 months, I am prepared to suspend that for a two year period."
The judge added that the 20 month suspended sentence applied to the first count of human trafficking, with "concurrent periods" of six months in respect of the two counts of transferring criminal property.