A man has been jailed for his role in smuggling a woman into Ireland in what a court heard was a “sophisticated operation”.
Mohamed Mahamed (48), a Danish citizen of Somalian origin of Aarhus, Denmark, pleaded guilty to unlawfully assisting the entry of a woman into Dublin Airport on January 28th last.
He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, backdated to January 28th, at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Tuesday.
The court heard that the woman arrived on a Ryanair flight from Luxembourg into Terminal One and presented without any travel or identity documents
A prosecuting Garda told Fiona McGowan BL, for the State, that the woman had previously sought asylum in Greece but had been refused.
The woman told immigration officials in Dublin that she met Mahamed in Paris and paid him $500 in order to get to Ireland.
She said she travelled with Mahamed by train to Luxembourg, stayed the night there and flew to Dublin on the same flight.
The woman said Mahamed gave her a passport for someone else and told her to leave it in the toilet on the plane, so that she would arrive with no documents and claim international protection.
Mahamed was arrested off the same flight and said he had been contacted by a third party, who said he would give him money if he assisted with getting the woman into Ireland.
Mahamed told gardaí he needed the money to travel back to Somalia to visit his family as he was on disability benefit in Denmark.
He has no previous convictions and pleaded early.
Niall Storan BL, defending, handed a psychological report to the court detailing Mahamed’s diagnosis with PTSD from the impact of the civil war in Somalia.
The court heard that Mahamed was exposed to considerable violence and death as a child, where he witnessed the execution and murder of multiple family members, friends and neighbours at a young age.
He has suffered low mood, sleep disturbances and anxiety from childhood as a result of these experiences, counsel said.
Mahamed, a married father-of-five, got Danish citizenship in 2001 and worked as a cleaner and driver.
He regularly sent his disability payments to his mother in Somalia, the court heard.
The psychological report said that Mahamed has been hospitalised multiple times because of his depression and anxiety related to his PTSD, and that he suffers physical symptoms such as shaking, pain and inability to sleep.
His experience in Wheatfield prison is particularly difficult as he relies on charity for clothes and basic needs and finds loud noises and banging contribute to his PTSD.
Mahamed was described by psychologists as “easily manipulated” and the court heard he was told that this woman was suffering from ill health and required medical treatment in Ireland.
“The third party was the puppet master here,” counsel said.
Judge Orla Crowe said Mahamed’s psychological report makes for “grim reading” and that he clearly has PTSD due to his childhood experiences.
She said although Mahamed has had a difficult life, he did this for financial gain and played an active role in a “very sophisticated operation”.
Judge Crowe set a headline sentence of three years but reduced this on account of Mahamed’s personal circumstances.
