Courts

Man who landed at Dublin Airport without ID is jailed for two months

Abrhe Biniyan has no fixed address but said he had been living in Eritrea

The passport control area in Terminal 1 of Dublin Airport. Photograph: Alan Betson

Tom Tuite
Tue Apr 9 2024 - 15:25

A man who landed at Dublin Airport without a passport or identity documents has been jailed for two months.

Abrhe Biniyan, who has no fixed address but said he had been living in Eritrea, was arrested and charged with breaching the Immigration Act last week.

Biniyan, who said he is aged 20, was initially remanded in custody but pleaded guilty after spending six days in custody on remand.

The case resumed before Judge Treasa Kelly at Dublin District Court.

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In evidence, Garda Aidan Fitzgerald said the accused was stopped at the airport on April 3rd and had “no passport, no ID”.

It was unknown where he had flown in from, but it was believed to be another European country.

The court also heard that gardaí “can’t be 100 per cent” about his identity.

He has now applied for international protection here, but after his fingerprints were taken, gardaí learned he had also applied for asylum in Finland.

Defence solicitor Eoghan O’Sullivan assured the judge that his client had sufficient English to understand and did not need an interpreter.

Biniyan did not address the court but instructed the solicitor that he had to leave Eritrea, in east Africa and “fled the country due to political difficulties there.”

Mr O’Sullivan asked the judge to note his client came from a country with a horrendous human rights record. His brother was also in Finland, the court heard.

Mr O’Sullivan submitted that the accused was entitled to apply for asylum here and implored the judge to consider his lack of prior conviction or income. The offence carries a possible 12-month prison term.

Sentencing, Judge Kelly noted that “he needed to have a passport or ID document to come into this country” and “gardaí do not know exactly who this man is”.

She backdated his jail term to the date he went into custody.

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