THE COURT of Criminal Appeal has reserved judgment on an appeal by a Nigerian lawyer against his conviction for trafficking illegal immigrants into Ireland.
Olaitan Ilori, a father of four, Oak Drive, Blessington, Co Wicklow, was convicted in July 2007 on 12 counts of organising or knowingly facilitating the entry into the State on October 27th, 2004, 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. Ilori was jailed for four years by Judge Martin Nolan.
Ilori denied the charges and his appeal against conviction was yesterday heard by the Court of Criminal Appeal. The three-judge court, with Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns presiding and sitting with Mr Justice Declan Budd and Mr Justice Daniel Herbert, reserved judgment. The appeal against sentence will be determined after the appeal court gives judgment on the appeal against conviction.
Earlier, Aileen Donnelly SC, for Ilori, said the grounds of appeal included that the case should not have been brought because there was no case to answer, that the Mauritians were not illegal immigrants and that the trial judge failed to give an accomplice warning to the jury in respect of the Mauritians who gave evidence.
Counsel argued Ilori had been unlawfully detained at Dublin airport for approximately 90 minutes on October 27th, 2004.
Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Alex Owens SC, opposed the appeal and said there was no basis to overturn the conviction. Ilori qualified as a lawyer in Nigeria and arrived in Ireland in 1998. He is married to an Irish woman and was granted full citizenship in 2002.