Teachers ‘disgusted’ by reports linking Kunle to suspected fraud case

TEACHERS yesterday stood by returned deportee Kunle Elukanlo, after it emerged the young Nigerian was arrested last year at Dublin airport.

Gardaí refused to comment on reports the Leaving Certificate pupil was taken into custody with another Nigerian who was caught attempting to withdraw money with a false passport.

Palmerstown Community school sixth-year coordinator and former teacher Anthony Wilkie said: “He was with a group of lads in Dublin airport. He was detained because he had no ID with him and then released the next day.

“He’s a young lad, he’s no immediate family around him. I remember when the incident happened. I chewed his ass off for being so stupid hanging around with someone that was going to do (that).

“He came over from Nigeria, he’s in a hostel with a bunch of lads and he considered them his friends,” said Mr Wilkie.

Kunle was just 18 years old and just out of his Nigerian village when the incident took place in January 2004, added the Palmerstown employee.

Teachers yesterday were “disgusted” by reports linking Kunle to a suspected fraud case, where a Nigerian youth tried to withdraw euro from the airport bureau de change.

“He’d nothing to do with the other business. There isn’t a teacher in the school that has a bad word for him. He’s a good average kid and he’s a grafter, building on whatever he gets,” said Mr Wilkie.

It has also emerged classmates of Kunle’s are receiving racist phone calls.

Palmerstown student Neil Burke said: “I have got 12 hate calls over the last week, fairly abusive ones. They’re saying ‘you’re a disgrace to your country, you’ve ruined the country for us. You don’t know what you are doing’.

“The calls started since he got back and they’re making a concerted effort to scare us off.”

Kunle’s friend said it was possible abusive callers had picked up the number from pamphlets recently distributed.

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Michael McDowell has admitted he does not usually read the files of non-nationals being considered for deportation, but instead relies on summaries of the cases from his officials.

The officials prepare “a report”, or summary, containing a recommendation, which the minister then considers before deciding whether to sign a deportation order or not.