A man has been convicted by a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury of trafficking 12 illegal immigrants into Ireland over two years ago.
Olaitan Ilori, Oak Drive, Blessington, Co Wicklow, had pleaded not guilty to charges that he organised or knowingly facilitated the entry into the State on October 27th, 2004, of 14 Mauritian nationals, whom he knew or had reasonable cause to believe were illegal immigrants.
Earlier, Judge Martin Nolan told the jury to return a verdict of not guilty by direction of the trial judge in relation to two charges faced by Ilori. The offences related to two Mauritian children who travelled with the 12 adults to Dublin airport.
The jury returned a unanimous verdict on seven charges and a majority on five after deliberating for almost seven hours and staying overnight in a hotel. It was the 12th day of a trial that was the first case of trafficking of illegal immigrants to come before the Circuit Court.
The judge thanked the jury for their service and concentration in what he said was a very long trial. Aileen Donnelly SC, defending, applied to have her client remanded on bail because he was a married man with four very young children who has attended on every court date.
Alex Owens SC, prosecuting, said it was the State's attitude that Ilori should be remanded in custody as he had just been convicted of a serious crime.
The judge remanded Ilori on continuing bail but ordered that he should sign on twice daily at Naas Garda station and surrender both his Irish and Nigerian passport. He adjourned sentencing until later this month.
During the trial, Veeraj Sunyasi, a Mauritian national, told the jury he applied to a company in Mauritius for a work permit for Ireland after reading an advertisement which said "Would you like to work in Ireland and earn euro"?
He paid 105,000 Mauritian rupee, approximately €3,500, to Micro Data Info (MDI) after meeting the company's managing director, Kevin Chuttur, in April 2004.
He told Patrick McGrath, prosecuting, that he later went to a meeting in MDI where he and 20 other Mauritian nationals met Ilori, an immigration consultant from Ireland, who told them that he did not have the work permits arranged and that they would have to come to Ireland first where it would be approved in a week.
Mr Sunyasi said that Ilori told the group that he had already found jobs for them but they would have to do a trial in their new position before a work permit was issued. He said the group had been told Ilori would have the documents at the meeting ready for them to work legally in Ireland.
This meeting took place a couple of days before he travelled to Ireland with 11 other fellow nationals, two children and Ilori.
When the group arrived in Paris on their way to Dublin airport, he became worried that they had no documentation to show immigration officials. He voiced this concern to Ilori who told him not to worry because he would help them out.
He said that when some of the group were trying to fill out the landing card on the plane they asked Ilori what they should say was the purpose of their visit to Ireland and he told them to tick the box for tourism.
Det Garda John McCormack from the Garda National Immigration Bureau said that he arrested Ilori after telling him he suspected he was involved in organising the arrival of 14 Mauritian nationals into Dublin airport.
Det Garda McCormack said Ilori told gardaí he was not involved in trafficking anyone and that he simply gave the group advice on how to come into the country legally and the "law of the land" associated with it.