Teen tried to board flight to US using passport of friend 'he looked a bit like', court hears
A "naive" Cork teenager tried to get through border controls at Shannon Airport to board a US-bound flight using a friend's passport 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 Aaron O'Brien (19), of Innishannon Road, Fair Hill, Cork.
Advertisement
This was after O'Brien pleaded guilty to having in his possession an Irish passport in the name of Jordan White, which he knew to be a false instrument on November 5th at Shannon Airport with the intention to inducing another person to believe that it was genuine, contrary to Section 29 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001.
The judge said O'Brien was not a candidate for custody "notwithstanding the seriousness of the offence."
Solicitor for O'Brien, John Casey, told the court that the incident was not like "the Hutches or the Kinahans going in and out of Iraq and Iran".
Mr Casey said O'Brien 'did not have a hope in hell' in getting past US border controls at Shannon with his friend's passport.
Advertisement
Judge Gabbett said O'Brien was fortunate that there is a US border control at Shannon Airport and 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.
Mr Casey said that 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 O'Brien went back to Cork and got his friend's passport, then travelled to Shannon Airport where he was stopped by staff.
Advertisement
Gardaí got involved when O'Brien tried to get through US border controls, Mr Casey told the court.
On his friend's passport, Mr Casey said O'Brien "looked a bit like him alright".
Mr Casey said O'Brien never thought it out and he just wanted to be with his wife – she is heavily pregnant now and did get back home.
Ireland
Irish passport named the strongest in the world in...
Read More
Mr Casey said 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".
"I get why he did it because of his wife falling ill and his own passport not going to work," the judge said.
Judge Gabbett said he had to convict O'Brien of the offence as the Irish passport is sacrosanct and allows travel to 120 countries without a visa.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South Wales Guardian
25 minutes ago
- South Wales Guardian
Russian strike kills five, including toddler, hours after Trump calls Putin
Six drones hit a residential area in the city at 5.30am local time, according to authorities. The child killed was the grandson of an emergency responder, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. 'One of the rescuers arrived to respond to the aftermath right at his own home,' Mr Zelensky said in a post on Telegram. 'It turned out that a Shahed drone hit his house.' The one-year-old's mother was a police officer called Daryna Shyhyda, Ukraine's National Police said. 'Today our hearts are scorched by pain,' the police force wrote on Telegram. 'This is not just a loss – it is three generations of life uprooted.' The attack came just hours after US President Donald Trump spoke by phone to Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to Mr Trump, Mr Putin said 'very strongly' that Russia will retaliate for Ukraine's weekend drone attacks on Russian military airfields. Six people were wounded in the Pryluky attack and are in hospital, officials said. Pryluky, which had a pre-war population of around 50,000 people, lies about 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of Kyiv, the capital. The city is far from the front line and does not contain any known military assets. Mr Zelensky said a total of 103 drones and one ballistic missile targeted multiple Ukrainian regions overnight, including Donetsk, Kharkiv, Odesa, Sumy, Chernihiv, Dnipro and Kherson. 'This is another massive strike,' Mr Zelensky said. 'It is yet another reason to impose the strongest possible sanctions and apply pressure collectively.' Mr Zelensky, who has accepted a US ceasefire proposal and offered to meet Mr Putin in an attempt to break the stalemate in negotiations, wants more international sanctions on Russia to force it to accept a settlement. Mr Putin has shown no willingness to meet Mr Zelensky, however, and has indicated no readiness to compromise. US-led diplomatic efforts to stop the more than three-year war have delivered no significant progress, and the grinding war of attrition has continued unabated. Germany's new leader Friedrich Merz was due to meet Mr Trump in Washington on Thursday as he works to keep the US on board with Western diplomatic and military support for Ukraine. Ukraine's top presidential aide, Andriy Yermak, met senior American officials in Washington on Wednesday and called for greater US pressure on Russia, accusing the Kremlin of deliberately stalling ceasefire talks and blocking progress toward peace, according to a statement on the presidential website. Mr Yermak, who travelled to the US as part of a Ukrainian delegation, met senior American officials to bolster support for Ukraine's defence and humanitarian priorities. He said Ukraine urgently needs stronger air defence capabilities. Hours after the Pryluky attack, 17 people were injured in a Russian drone strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Those hurt included children, a pregnant woman, and a 93-year-old woman, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram. At around 1.05am, Shahed-type drones struck two apartment buildings in the city's Slobidskyi district, causing fires and destroying several private vehicles. 'By launching attacks while people sleep in their homes, the enemy once again confirms its tactic of insidious terror,' Mr Syniehubov wrote on Telegram. Russian aircraft also dropped four powerful glide bombs on the southern city of Kherson, injuring at least three people, regional authorities said.
Belfast Telegraph
33 minutes ago
- Belfast Telegraph
USB device found taped to friend's bedroom window on day Evan Fitzgerald shot up Irish shopping centre
Gardaí have seized the flash drive placed in a bag and duct-taped to bedroom window The letter 'E' was spelt out in duct tape along with the package containing the deviceGardaí are trying to establish if the flash drive has any information relating to the events in Carlow on Sunday Gardaí investigating a shooting incident involving Irish gunman Evan Fitzgerald (22) have seized a USB device discovered at his friend's home on the day Fitzgerald shot up a shopping centre. The flash drive was placed in a secure bag and duct-taped to the friend's bedroom window before being discovered on Sunday.
Belfast Telegraph
33 minutes ago
- Belfast Telegraph
Russian strike kills five, including toddler, hours after Trump calls Putin
Six drones hit a residential area in the city at 5.30am local time, according to authorities. The child killed was the grandson of an emergency responder, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. 'One of the rescuers arrived to respond to the aftermath right at his own home,' Mr Zelensky said in a post on Telegram. 'It turned out that a Shahed drone hit his house.' The attack came just hours after US President Donald Trump spoke by phone to Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to Mr Trump, Mr Putin said 'very strongly' that Russia will retaliate for Ukraine's weekend drone attacks on Russian military airfields. Six people were wounded in the Pryluky attack and are in hospital, officials said. Pryluky, which had a pre-war population of around 50,000 people, lies about 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of Kyiv, the capital. The city is far from the front line and does not contain any known military assets. Mr Zelensky said a total of 103 drones and one ballistic missile targeted multiple Ukrainian regions overnight, including Donetsk, Kharkiv, Odesa, Sumy, Chernihiv, Dnipro and Kherson. 'This is another massive strike,' Mr Zelensky said. 'It is yet another reason to impose the strongest possible sanctions and apply pressure collectively.' Mr Zelensky, who has accepted a US ceasefire proposal and offered to meet Mr Putin in an attempt to break the stalemate in negotiations, wants more international sanctions on Russia to force it to accept a settlement. Mr Putin has shown no willingness to meet Mr Zelensky, however, and has indicated no readiness to compromise. US-led diplomatic efforts to stop the more than three-year war have delivered no significant progress, and the grinding war of attrition has continued unabated. Germany's new leader Friedrich Merz was due to meet Mr Trump in Washington on Thursday as he works to keep the US on board with Western diplomatic and military support for Ukraine. Ukraine's top presidential aide, Andriy Yermak, met senior American officials in Washington on Wednesday and called for greater US pressure on Russia, accusing the Kremlin of deliberately stalling ceasefire talks and blocking progress toward peace, according to a statement on the presidential website. Mr Yermak, who travelled to the US as part of a Ukrainian delegation, met senior American officials to bolster support for Ukraine's defence and humanitarian priorities. He said Ukraine urgently needs stronger air defence capabilities. Hours after the Pryluky attack, 17 people were injured in a Russian drone strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Those hurt included children, a pregnant woman, and a 93-year-old woman, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram. At around 1.05am, Shahed-type drones struck two apartment buildings in the city's Slobidskyi district, causing fires and destroying several private vehicles. 'By launching attacks while people sleep in their homes, the enemy once again confirms its tactic of insidious terror,' Mr Syniehubov wrote on Telegram. Russian aircraft also dropped four powerful glide bombs on the southern city of Kherson, injuring at least three people, regional authorities said.
