'Naive' Cork teenager tried to get into US with passport of a friend 'he looked a bit like'

'This is not the Hutches or the Kinahans going in and out of Iraq and Iran': Solicitor says his client had not thought it through

Ennis District Court heard the 19-year-old's wife was in the US and had fallen ill, and, having been turned away at Dublin Airport, he tried to use his pal's passport in Shannon Airport.

A ‘naive' Cork teenager tried to get through US Customs and Border Protection controls at Shannon Airport to board a US-bound flight with the passport of a friend who "he looked a bit like”, a court has heard.

At Ennis District Court, Judge Alec Gabbett imposed 80 hours community service in lieu of four months in prison on 19-year-old Aaron O’Brien of Innishannon Rd, Fair Hill, Cork.

This was after O'Brien pleaded guilty to having in his possession an Irish passport in the name of a friend which he knew to be a false instrument on November 5 at Shannon Airport with the intention to inducing another person to believe that it was genuine contrary to the Section 29 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001.

Judge Gabbett said: “Mr O’Brien is not a candidate for custody notwithstanding the seriousness of the offence."

Solicitor for O’Brien, John Casey told the court “this is not the Hutches or the Kinahans going in and out of Iraq and Iran”.

Mr Casey said his client “did not have a hope in hell” in getting past US border controls at Shannon with his friend’s passport.

Man fortunate he did not get to US

Judge Gabbett said O’Brien was fortunate that there is a US border control at Shannon Airport and he was not allowed to get on the departing flight as he could have faced a few nights in custody at JFK or Logan Airport if the US border controls were based on the other side.

Mr Casey explained that O’Brien’s wife was on holidays with her family in the US and was pregnant and fell sick.

The solicitor said O’Brien got a short-term visa to go to America and he went to Dublin Airport and when he got there for whatever reason, as he has no previous convictions, he was told that he was not travelling.

Mr Casey said that O’Brien went back down to Cork and got his friend’s passport and went to Shannon Airport and he was stopped there and gardaí got involved when O’Brien tried to get through US border controls.

Friend 'looked a bit like him alright'

On his friend’s passport, Mr Casey said that O’Brien “looked a bit like him alright”.

The solicitor said his client never thought it out and he just wanted to be with his wife and she is heavily pregnant now and did get back home.

Mr Casey said that it would have been O’Brien’s first trip to the US.

Judge Gabbett said O’Brien was obviously naive in trying this "as anyone who has been through US immigration knows that your face is scanned, your hand is scanned, and fingerprints are taken”.

Judge Gabbett said: “I get why he did it because of his wife falling ill and his own passport not going to work."

The judge said that he had to convict O’Brien of the offence as the Irish passport is sacrosanct and allows travel to 120 countries without a visa.