Man (41) who assisted 'ghosts' to enter State unlawfully jailed

Eimear Dodd and Declan Brennan

A man who admitted assisting two other men to enter the State unlawfully has received a 20-month prison sentence.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that the two men, assisted by Indian National Ayyappan Govindaraj (41), “haven't been seen” since they left Dublin Airport, did not apply for international protection and are “essentially ghosts”.

Govindaraj pleaded guilty to one count of intentionally assisting the entry into the State of another person in breach of section 4 of the Immigration Act, where he knew or had reasonable cause to believe this was a breach of this provision.

Govindaraj of no fixed abode has been in custody since his arrest and has no previous convictions.

The court heard on Thursday that on the morning of June 7th, 2024, an immigration control officer was checking passports of passengers as they disembarked a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul, which had landed in Terminal One, Dublin Airport.

Detective Garda John McCann said this immigration control officer was approached by two men, who said they had lost their passports. These men were apologetic and asked for help, which the officer interpreted as a request for international protection.

Around the same time, Govindaraj presented an Indian passport and a seaman's book at a Non-EU immigration control booth.

The garda witness said a seaman's book is “like a passport for people who work on boats” and negates the necessity for a visa when someone is travelling to join a ship. He said this document's only purpose is to travel from one country to another to take up a role on a seagoing vessel.

He said this document, which was genuine, allowed Govindaraj to travel to Dublin without a visa.

Govindaraj also handed in a letter stating he was due to join a named vessel. This document raised the suspicions of the immigration control officer, as he had never heard of that shipping company before.

Enquiries were made at Dublin Port, and it was identified that this vessel travels between Ireland and the United Kingdom and would not require a person to travel to join it, as it would have a standard crew.

Govindaraj was also unable to answer questions about the type of ship he was joining.

Immigration officers checked records for non-EU flights and saw that one booking had been made for Govindaraj and the two men identified coming off the Turkish Airlines flight.

The court heard Govindaraj was refused entry into the state as he had no visa and was not travelling to join a seagoing vessel. The court heard that he had no return flight booked, and the garda witness said Govindaraj was “trying to convince” authorities that he was due to board this named ship.

His luggage was searched, and a boarding card in the name of one of the other two men was found, along with other documents. Govindaraj initially said this must have fallen into his luggage, but later admitted that he had the passports of the two men.

The two other men were initially denied entry into the state, but were then allowed to enter to make an application for international protection. The witness said these two men “haven't been seen” since they left Dublin Airport, did not apply for international protection and are “essentially ghosts”.

Judge Patricia Ryan said she was taking into consideration evidence that there was no financial gain for the defendant, and it seemed he was doing them a favour.

She also noted that the other men were willing participants and there was no element of coercion in the case.

She noted that he has been in custody since his arrest on June 7th, 2024, and she backdated a prison term of 20 months to that date.

Giving evidence Det Gda McGann agreed with Padraig Dwyer SC, defending, that the seaman's book was a genuine document and displayed a work history in different areas.

It was further accepted that Govindaraj's culpability is limited to assisting these two other men to enter the jurisdiction, and the two men were willing participants.

The garda also accepted that this is one of the first prosecutions under this piece of legislation, that the District Court refused jurisdiction in this case, but has dealt with other similar cases.

The garda also agreed there was no element of coercion or financial gain with Govindaraj doing it as a favour. Mr Dwyer asked the court to take into account his client's background and that he has been in custody since his arrest.