A Dublin man who lived off the earnings of prostitution has been jailed for two years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Brian O'Byrne (39), of Temple View Row, Donaghmede, pleaded guilty to allowing a premises to be used as a brothel on November 11th, 1999. He is the first person to be jailed on charges relating to the running of brothels.
Judge Patrick McCartan was told that O'Byrne had two previous convictions in 1998 for the same offences. "The disturbing factor in this case is that you have been convicted of such activity before and committed the offences while under bond from the District Court", he said. "It would be asking too much of the court not to impose a custodial sentence, and I must do so."
Det Garda John Cribbin told Mr Brendan Grehan, prosecuting, that a Garda investigation into prostitution led them to a premises at Synge Street, Dublin, which was believed to be a brothel. Men were observed entering the premises and leaving again after about 30 minutes.
Each man was stopped and signed a statement about what went on inside. They each said they became aware of the premises from advertisements in a Dublin magazine.
O'Byrne was also seen entering and leaving the building.
A search warrant was executed by gardai on November 11th, 1999. Det Garda Cribbin told Mr Grehan that they found a man and two women inside the premises, and O'Byrne was in an upstairs office. Both women admitted receiving money for sexual favours, and the man told gardai he had paid £60 for such favours.
The women said they gave O'Byrne £100 a day when it was busy and £20 for each customer when it was not. Gardai also found telephones upstairs with numbers which corresponded to those advertised in the magazine.
O'Byrne was arrested and admitted that such activity went on. He was a tenant in the premises and did not own it.
Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, defending, said that O'Byrne had got out of that business and had no intention of returning to it.
The court heard earlier that O'Byrne had two previous convictions for running premises in Dublin's inner city.