Ukrainian soldier’s crime spree, sentence and innocent refugees

The attack on a Tralee mother by a former Ukrainian soldier, who was tortured by invading Russians before managing to escape with his life, is utterly shocking.

Volodymyr Vorobiov went on a crime spree in Tralee last October during which he held a scissors close to the neck of a woman who was collecting her son from basketball.

Thankfully, Vorobiov pleaded guilty to a series of crimes at Tralee Circuit Court and will be sentenced by Judge Alex Gabbett at the end of the month. These crimes included the smashing of car windows, stealing a car and the frightening attack on the woman.

As is his responsibility, Judge Gabbett will take all factors into account including, if present, both aggravating and mitigating, before handing down his sentence.

That particular consideration does not, however, prevent the rest of us from acknowledging the trauma that Mr Vorobiov’s victims suffered during his crime spree. And making reasonable and balanced comments on these terrible events.

One can only imagine, in particular, the immediate shock and longer-term suffering endured by the woman Vorobiov confronted near St Brendan’s Park. She told the Circuit Court in her victim impact statement how the shock that followed the attack ‘cannot be underestimated’.

And neither should it be.

Similarly, one can imagine the shock suffered by another 70-year-old woman from St Brendan’s Park who was also approached by Vorobiov while he was brandishing an iron bar. The former soldier grabbed keys out of her hand and stole her car.

The court heard how within a short time he had crashed the car into a steel barrier and written it off, with a loss of about €10,000.

This is the stuff of television drama, not the kind of behaviour you’d expect in Tralee, or indeed in any part of Kerry.

Defence counsel Brian McInerney, quite correctly, directed the court’s attention to the abuse Vorobiov suffered in Russian captivity, describing it as brutal. He said Vorobiov’s back was marked with injuries in a way that might be seen in a movie depicting slave punishment in the old Southern States of America.

Judge Gabbett has a tough task now to sift through all the relevant evidence and decide on a sentence that is proportionate, fair and warranted – and, at the same time, taking full account of the victims’ right to justice.

One thing we should all keep in mind, however, is that Vorobiov’s outlandish criminality, which has been admitted, has nothing at all to do with the thousands of Ukrainian refugees who have been welcome guests in our communities since Vladimir Putin’s murderous invasion in early 2022.

Nothing at all.