Student nurse spared jail after aiding illegal entry to Ireland

Tom Tuite

A student nurse has avoided jail after she admitted helping a Congolese national enter Ireland illegally through Dublin Airport using a bogus identity card.

Mireille Mumpuni, 44, also originally from Congo but now an Irish citizen, pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to facilitating illegal entry into Ireland, an offence under the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act.

Judge Treasa Kelly said there had to be a deterrent and refused to spare her a criminal record or impose a fine. She imposed a two-month sentence, suspended on condition that she did not reoffend within the next year.

Detective Garda Karen Barker from the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) gave evidence that on May 29th last, the accused was stopped by the Border Management Unit at Dublin Airport after flying back from Spain.

She presented an Irish passport card and was pulled aside for a secondary check; a man then came off the same flight with a “lookalike genuine Spanish ID card”. The GNIB detective said he was obviously not the person in the photo.

Mumpuni said she had travelled to Spain to meet a friend and then returned to Dublin with the man.

The Congolese man provided several identities and then gave another name, claiming to be Congolese and that he had come here to claim asylum.

Mumpuni’s bag was searched, and officials found his phone. She told them she had met the man earlier that day, and he asked her to help him with his boarding card to travel to Dublin, and that she helped him because she was also originally Congolese.

She later explained that they met the night before, and she assisted him at the request of a family member because the man knew her deceased father.

It later emerged that she knew he travelled on a Spanish ID card, with evidence on her phone showing his genuine Congolese passport and visa.

The Director of Public Prosecutions authorised that the case be dealt with in the District Court if she pleaded guilty; otherwise, it would have proceeded to the Circuit Court, which has wider sentencing powers.

She had a single prior conviction in 2014, resulting in a €150 fine.

Detective Garda Barker agreed with defence solicitor Michael Kelleher that she was pleasant to deal with and she was forthcoming. She also accepted it was not done for commercial gain but for personal reasons.

The accused came to Ireland in 2008 and is now studying to become a mental health nurse. She had no further charges pending and was very worried about the prosecution.

Mr Kelleher said the man she assisted has since made an asylum application. Pleading for leniency, he submitted that the evidence distinguished her case from a person doing it for commercial advantage, which was far more sinister and serious.

The solicitor stressed that she had taken years to obtain citizenship, that she was contributing to society and working to qualify as a nurse at a time when there was a huge shortage in that profession, and that she had rebuilt herself after personal relationship difficulties.

He also said the outcome of the case would impact her vetting applications in the future.

Judge Kelly said it was a very serious charge, the State took it very seriously, Mumpuni had been in Ireland for over 10 years, and she understood the system. She said the accused assisted the man in circumventing it, and it was not by lawful means to get him into the country.