Nigerian lawyer loses appeal against people trafficking conviction

A NIGERIAN lawyer has lost an appeal against his conviction for trafficking illegal immigrants into Ireland.

Olaitan Ilori, a father of four, from 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 27, 2004, of 12 adult Mauritian nationals whom he knew, or had reasonable cause to believe, were illegal immigrants.

The group, including Ilori, came to Ireland via Paris and paid substantial amounts of money to MDI, a company in Mauritius, to be given entry visas and work permits.

It was the first case of trafficking of illegal immigrants to come before the circuit criminal court and Ilori was jailed for four years by Judge Martin Nolan.

Ilori appealed against both conviction and the sentence on grounds including that the case should not have been brought because there was no case to answer, that the Mauritian nationals were not illegal immigrants and that the judge failed to give an accomplished warning to the jury in respect of the Mauritians who gave evidence.

It was also argued Ilori had been unlawfully detained at Dublin Airport for about 90 minutes on October 27, 2004.

The DPP had opposed the appeal and said there was no basis to overturn the conviction.

In a detailed judgment delivered yesterday the three-judge Court of Criminal Appeal, with Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns presiding and sitting with Mr Justice Declan Budd and Mr Justice Daniel Herbert, said all grounds of Ilori’s appeal must fail.

The court said to say that Ilori had acted other than for gain was untrue. In its view there was “overwhelming evidence” implicating Ilori in the scheme where the Mauritians paid over money in the belief that they would get Irish work permits.

There was “an abundance of evidence from witnesses” during Ilori’s trial that he was “heavily involved” in both organising and facilitating the Mauritians’ flight to Ireland.

The unfortunate Mauritians parted with very significant sums of money to join “an elaborate scheme”. They were “victims in every sense of the word” of Ilori and those directing the scheme and no way could be considered accomplices of Ilori.

The court also rejected the argument that Ilori was unlawfully detained at Dublin Airport on October 27. Ilori’s appeal against the four-year sentence will be determined at a later date.

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.