A man who lives in Co Wicklow has been jailed for four years by Judge Martin Nolan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for trafficking illegal immigrants into Ireland.
Nigerian lawyer Olaitan Ilori, a father of four, Oak Drive, Blessington, was convicted by a jury earlier this month on 12 counts of organising or knowingly facilitating on October 27th, 2004, the entry into the State of 12 adult Mauritian nationals whom he knew or had reasonable cause to believe were illegal immigrants.
The 12-day trial was the first case of trafficking of illegal immigrants to come before the Circuit Criminal Court.
The crime carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment.
Ilori had pleaded not guilty to 14 charges at the start of his trial but Judge Nolan directed the jury to return not guilty verdicts on two charges relating to two Mauritian children who travelled with the 12 adults to Dublin airport.
The jury returned unanimous verdicts on seven charges and majority verdicts on five after deliberating for almost seven hours and staying overnight in a hotel.
Judge Nolan said the legislation surrounding this case covered a multitude of different offences, including cramming immigrants into containers, resulting in deaths of some people, and bringing women, girls and men into this country for prostitution.
He said taking all this into account, Ilori's crime was not at the highest end of the scale but "it was undoubtedly the case" that he brought 12 Mauritian nationals into the country knowing they were illegal.
Judge Nolan said he accepted there was a scheme in place and that although there were others involved, Ilori was an actor in it and made financial gains through it. He said these Mauritian nationals suffered because they paid out quite a bit of money and left their native country believing they had work available here.
Judge Nolan refused an application from defence counsel Aileen Donnelly SC to suspend any portion of the prison term and refused leave to appeal conviction and sentence. He granted legal aid in the case of an appeal.
Supt John O'Driscoll, of the Garda National Immigration Bureau, told Alex Owens SC, prosecuting, that Ilori arrived in Ireland in 1998 and sought asylum but he withdrew this application after marrying an Irish woman. He was granted full citizenship in 2002.
He had a number of road traffic convictions for which he received fines and was disqualified from driving for 12 months.
Ms Donnelly asked Judge Nolan to take into account that this was not a case were the immigrants were physically harmed as was the case in Rosslare Harbour were eight people died after they were smuggled into Ireland in a crammed truck.
She also said that there was no question of the people in Ilori's case being sexually exploited.
She said Ilori still maintained his innocence which meant that there "were certain matters" she couldn't put before the court. She asked that Ilori would not be punished for this because she said he had a right to go to trial.
She said Ilori was a father of four young children under the age of seven.
He qualified as a lawyer in Nigeria but did not practise there for very long.
Ms Donnelly said that Ilori had a "valid occupation" as an immigration consultant here. He lost his business, The Equity Office, in Parnell Street, Dublin, because of the publicity.