A travel agent who had false identity documents for a group of children has been given a three-year sentence by Judge Katherine Delahunt at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Polly Mbugua (40) had 17counterfeit identification cards in the names of young people which would have allowed them to travel from Ireland to Britain and she posed as an aunt to several young girls in the party.
Mbugua, Fivestar Events and Holidays, and "Breakaway Safaris", PO Box 34676, Nairobi, pleaded guilty to having false and counterfeit identity documents in her possession on July 7th last. Judge Delahunt imposed a sentence of three years imprisonment with the final year suspended on condition that Mbugua leave the country on completion of her sentence.
Det Garda Ray O'Connnor told prosecuting counsel, Seán Gillane, that gardaí from the National Immigration Bureau intercepted Mbugua as she travelled from a Dublin city centre guesthouse to an address in Clonsilla, Co Dublin.
She had a plastic bag which was found to contain 17 "Young Scot" cards - a card given to children of school-going age in Scotland - in the names of various young people which would have allowed them travel freely between Ireland and Britain.
Det Gda O'Connnor said she claimed she had been asked to carry the cards to Ireland by people in Nairobi. She said she was to give two cards to people she knew and someone was to collect the rest.
Det Gda O'Connor said Mbugua, who had no previous convictions, had travelled to Ireland with a group of 20 people. She had posed as an aunt to several young girls and other girls had been kept under observation by gardaí for the duration of their stay as they attended a Girl Guide camp in Co Meath.
Defence counsel, Peter le Vert, said Mbugua owned her own travel agency in Nairobi. He said she had made a bad decision after she realised there was something "not right" with the cards, but had been asked to hold them by a person who was putting business her way, so she was "acting on goodwill".
Mr le Vert said Mbugua, the mother of two children at home in Kenya, was not in good health and one of her children, aged four and a half, was also quite unwell. He said her children were being cared for by a relative and had not been told she was in prison, believing her to be in Europe on business.
Mr le Vert said she had "a high degree of remorse" and had used her time in custody well, attending training courses and applying for Open University programmes.