Year in prison for money laundering and assault in Waterford city
Tozetti appeared at Waterford Circuit Court.
A man will spend one year in prison for committing assault and money laundering in the space of one week.
Christ Tozetti, of 20 Tuar Na mBlath, Abbeylands, Ferrybank, appeared for sentence before Judge Eugene O’Kelly at Waterford Circuit Court.
The 23-year-old was charged with Section 3 assault committed on Manor Street on May 16, 2023, and Detective Garda Sean Cuddy outlined the timeline of events surrounding the crimes.
On May 16, 2023, at around 7pm Tozetti was walking on Manor Street with another man. As seen on CCTV, the other man stopped on the corner of Mason’s to urinate on the building. As he did so, three men stopped nearby and appeared to engage with that man, who went on to throw the first punch.
The men starting fighting and at one point a knife was produced. Nearby bystanders, including a child, were waiting to cross the road when the fighting began. Tozetti ended up kicked on the head and left on the road.
He was arrested by Gardaí shortly afterwards and admitted his part in the fight. No weapon was ever recovered.
On May 11, 2023, a woman in Kerry was the victim of a phishing scam, and lost nearly €20,000 from her Bank of Ireland account. She was contacted by a ‘representative’ claiming to be from her bank, telling her that her account had been hacked and that she had to transfer her money to another account. Instead, her money was fraudulently transferred into the account of a man with an address in Waterford City.
She learned the truth of the scam when Bank of Ireland contacted her on her child’s Communion Day. The stress of the ordeal left her frightened, anxious and wary of other people. She described feeling ‘violated’ by the crime and found it difficult to confide in other people about her pain, even friends and family.
On May 13, Tozetti was seen buying four iPhone 14s and accessories at a technology shop on Broad Street in the city. He spent €4,389 in total, using a card supplied by the man with the city address. On camera, he is seen wearing a face mask while buying the items.
He was identified and arrested at his home on July 29 that year and answered ‘no comment’ during his Garda interview.
The Court heard that Tozetti received roughly €300 for his part in the crime.
Defence counsel Brian P. O’Shea BL told the Court that his client was a young man with no previous convictions. Mr O’Shea said that Tozetti was inebriated on the night of the Manor Street assault but has since cut down on alcohol and has cut ties with negative peers.
At the time of the offences, Tozetti had quit his job at Dawn Meats to pursue stock-trading but quickly fell into "acute financial difficulties". Mr O’Shea said: “He didn’t ask any questions about the fraud.”
Tozetti took to the witness box to apologise for his actions: “I’m very sorry for everything that occurred. I’m a changed man now.”
Of the money-laundering charge, Judge O’Kelly said that the court has impressed over the last few years that "this is a crime wherein a large number of young people" are getting caught up in.
He said: “This is a criminal enterprise which is causing anxiety for literally thousands of people. It doesn’t mitigate that the banks pay out for the victim of their fraud. It is young and gullible people who hand over their account for a reduction in drug debt. He [Tozetti] was not in that category.”
Judge O’Kelly imposed a suspended 18-month sentence for the assault, and two years and three months for the money-laundering, with the final 15 months suspended.
