A Nigerian student who was permitted to return to Ireland last year to complete his Leaving Certificate exams has been disqualified from driving for 12 months and fined €250 for driving without insurance.
If Olukunle (Kunle) Elukanlo (21) fails to pay the fine within six months he will spend five days in prison, Judge Clare Leonard told Dún Laoghaire District Court. Mr Elukanlo appeared before the court on charges of driving without insurance, tax or an NCT certificate on May 30th, 2005.
Garda Paul Byrne told the court that Mr Elukanlo had a previous driving conviction in 2003 at Dundalk District Court for driving without a licence.
Legal representative for Mr Elukanlo, Paul O'Shea, told the court that when his client was deported to Nigeria a year ago someone took his car from where he lived in Palmerstown.
When he returned to Ireland after his deportation order was reversed, he learned that the car was in Bray.
"He got word that the car was in Bray and was collecting the car when he was stopped. He states this was the only occasion he drove it without tax and insurance," Mr O'Shea said. Mr Elukanlo is working in a shop.
Mr Elukanlo's deportation was scheduled for Tuesday last following the Minister for Justice's rejection of a plea for him to be permitted stay in Ireland. Mr Elukanlo is seeking to prevent his deportation on the grounds that he is the father of an Irish citizen born to an Irish mother.
He received a letter from the Department of Justice in January that stated one reason a deportation order was issued related to his guilty plea to charges of driving without insurance or tax since he returned to Ireland.
Last week, Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne at the High Court granted an injunction restraining his deportation until today. She will today deal with an application for leave to bring judicial review proceedings challenging deportation.