Dundalk Circuit Court has heard how a then heroin addict told gardaí he had been paid €2,000 to apply for a false passport in his own name, which had a photo similar to another passport applied for by Daniel Kinahan.
Seamus Walsh (43) with an address at Mountain View Crescent, Dundalk was before the court today for sentencing for the sale of his passport to an unknown person after December 5th 2011.
Judge Dara Hayes was told the Head of Investigations at the Department of Foreign Officers notified the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation in January 2018 that a passport applied for in the name of Seamus Walsh, was issued on December 5th 2011 and dispatched to his home address the following day.
However, Det Gda Feilim McKenna of the NBCI told the court the passport photo did not match the photo on the defendant’s Public Services Card.
Instead, it matched another passport application for Daniel Joseph Kinahan suspected of being a senior figure in organised crime. The passport in Seamus Walsh’s name was revoked in October 2017.
Three supporting documents submitted with the application were false – an electricity bill, which should have been in Mr Walsh’s mother’s name, had an account number which did not match the address; the bank account number didn’t match and the driving licence submitted had a driver number that didn’t exist.
The defendant, who attended Dundalk Garda station voluntarily in August 2018, said he had a heroin addiction at the time, and had sold the passport document to a man for €2,000, said he “was off his head on drugs”.
He also claimed he didn’t know who was getting the passport after it was handed over to a Traveller who he said was “in and out of his house selling drugs” at the time.
The Defence barrister argued his client was vulnerable and taken advantage of while in the throes of his addiction following his father’s death to cancer in 2010.
He added the 43-year-old has not come to garda attention since. He stopped taking heroin in 2016 and is now the sole carer for his wheelchair bound mother, who the court heard, has significant medical issues.
Det Gda McKenna confirmed that Mr Walsh had no association with Daniel Kinahan or organised crime.
A letter was also handed in from local Gaelic football club Sean O’Mahony’s. The barrister said it outlines how his client helps train the Under 10s and is always there to lend a hand in terms of cleaning up and fundraising activities.
Judge Hayes said that acquiring a passport in this manner can only be for criminal purposes, however, he noted the Probation report is very positive and the Det Gda spoke very favourably of the defendant.
The judge adjourned the case to April 25th for finalisation and directed that the Defence produce three urine analysis reports and an updated report on Mr. Walsh’s mother’s medical conditions but he warned him a custodial sentence was a very real possibility.