Man bought fake no claims bonus for car insurance on Facebook, Cork court told
Court presenter Sergeant Eimear O'Connell told Bandon District Court that Claudio Rodrigues Pereira, aged 47 of Emmet Row, Bandon, Co Cork, submitted the false document to Axa Insurance as part of an application for motor insurance in April 2023.
Axa made a complaint to gardaí about the application and Pereira was arrested and charged with using a false instrument under the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act, 2001.
The court was told that Pereira had three previous convictions, two of which were for using a false instrument arising from a similar incident where he had applied to Liberty Insurance also in 2023. On that occasion he had bought a false Portuguese driving licence from a Facebook page.
Defence solicitor Plunkett Taaffe said that Pereira had been living in Ireland for four years and had a full Brazilian licence when he arrived. He said that his client had been 'duped' by the Facebook page offering licenses and no claims bonuses and was 'very contrite.'
Mr Taaffe said that the offending occurred over a short period of time and that his client was now taking lessons with a view to obtaining an Irish driving licence.
Judge Joanne Carroll said that the offence was 'a terrible deception' that was clearly premeditated and that Pereira was 'trying to bypass Irish law while a visitor to this country.'
She added: 'If you go on to a Facebook page to buy a licence or other documents you are setting out to deceive, the question is can this man stay out of prison?'
Claudio Rodrigues Pereira was sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for 18 months.
This article is funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme
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Irish Examiner
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Both deaths took place in close supervision cells, designed to for prisoners who are a danger to others or are disruptive, in the opinion of prison management. One man, who died in April 2021, had been placed in the cell the day before after he was accused of concealing illegal drugs internally. He had not been reviewed by healthcare staff, the report states. Related Reads How does Ireland's prison overcrowding crisis compare to other European countries? Court escorts for prisoners at risk due to overcrowding, Irish prisons boss warns Fears within prison service that prison overcrowding increasing risk of violence and rioting The torture prevention committee had 'serious reservations' around the quality of internal documents relating to all four deaths. A logbook for the wing shows that the prisoner was asleep between 9.10pm the night before and 8.30am the morning of the death, but another prison officer claimed to have attended the cell between 9pm and 2am after the man activated a bell. The report said: 'The Committee finds it incongruous that one prison officer can set out that he attended a cell several times during the night, and yet another prison officer records in the CSC book that every 15 minutes during the night the prisoner was checked and was asleep.' The prisoner was found dead when the cells were unlocked in the morning on 27 April 2021 and that rigor mortis was noted, 'clearly indicating that he had been dead for some time before he was found'. 'Deeply troubled by the falsification of records' Another prisoner was found dead on the morning of 10 August 2022. He had been placed in a closed supervision cell 'because he was mentally ill, rather than because he had been disruptive in the prison', the report said. Documentation details that the man had no had anything to eat or drink for 48 hours before his death. The report said it is 'deeply concerned' that there was no care plan for the man, 'who was clearly mentally ill', had not eaten and was placed in the cell. Similarly to the case before, the logbook was also not reflective of the morning's events. A review of the document found that it said the cell belonging to the man was checked every 15 minutes for almost 30 minutes after he died. The report said the entries were clearly 'made in advance of him being found dead'. It said that the committee was 'deeply troubled by the falsification of records by prison officers'. It has recommended that a review be conducted into the procedures following the deaths of prisoners in Irish prisons so that documents such as autopsy reports and accurate time sheets are included in an inmate's file. It also recommended that analysis be undertaken of each death to identify general lessons that can be learnt from the incidents. In its response, the Irish government said it has begun the work to fulfil some of the review's recommendations. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
