Group hits out as brothel boss avoids prison again

An organisation which campaigns against the trafficking of migrant women into prostitution has hit out at a suspended jail term handed down to a company executive who ran a sophisticated brothel network in Limerick.

Thomas Lyons, aged 57, from Newcastle West and with an address at the Warren, Malahide, Dublin, received a four-year suspended sentence at Limerick Circuit Court after he pleaded guilty to three counts of running brothels in Limerick.

A co-accused, Zelandia Silva, aged 46, from Brazil, who ran the business with Lyons, was given an 18-month suspended sentence.

The court was told that Lyons had previously received a suspended jail sentence for running a brothel in Dublin, which was part of his network of brothels uncovered by a Garda undercover operation codenamed ‘Freewheel’.

Judge Tom O’Donnell said society might call for jail sentences in such cases, but he had a responsibility to look at all the circumstances in each case.

In a statement issued last night, Doras Luimní, a non-government agency which works with migrants and campaigns against prostitution, said the sentence sends out the message that those who organise and profit from prostitution will be treated leniently by the criminal justice system.

“We believe someone who profits from prostitution should receive a sentence commensurate with the severity of the crime,” said a spokesperson, adding that the sentence was “highly disappointing”.

Doras Luimní said many resources of the gardaí were deployed in long surveillance operations in tracking down Lyons’ extremely lucrative operation.

It said women, mostly from eastern Europe, were available for commercial sexual services in Limerick, as was evident in the Garda investigation.

“Fundamentally we believe those who organise and profit from prostitution — the pimps and traffickers — should be the target of Garda investigations. We also believe that those same individuals should bear the full brunt of the law,” said the spokesperson.

Sergeant Vincent Brick told the court last Friday that the brothel business run by Lyons and Silva was one of the most sophisticated in the mid-west region.

Lyons used an escort website to identify women to work in his brothels. He rented good apartments in the city for €750 a month and then charged the prostitutes €700 a week for using them. He transported the prostitutes in his Mercedes.

The court heard that Lyons had a number of properties and that t

he Criminal Asset Bureau has been investigating his investments.

Lyons, a transport engineer, acted as a consultant in advising Dublin County Council and Limerick City Council on major transport projects.