
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
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
British nationals jailed in Indonesia for drug offences
Judges in Indonesia have sentenced a group of three British nationals to one year in jail for drug offences after a charge that could carry the death penalty was dropped. Jonathan Christopher Collyer, 28, and his partner Lisa Ellen Stocker, 29, were arrested on February 1 after customs officers found 993 grammes (2.2 pounds) of cocaine worth an estimated six billion rupiah (£271,731). The drugs were hidden among sachets of powdered dessert mix. Two days later, authorities arrested Phineas Ambrose Float, 31, after a delivery of the drugs arranged by police. During their June trial, defence lawyers argued their clients were unaware the food given to them in England contained cocaine. On Thursday, the three-judge panel in Denpasar District Court handed down one-year prison terms for each defendant minus time served, making them eligible for release in seven months. Separately, an Argentine woman was sentenced to seven years and a British man received a five-year sentence with a fine of one billion rupiah (£45,322) on charges of smuggling cocaine to Bali. Eleonora Gracia, 46, was arrested in March at Bali's airport with 244 grammes (0.5 pounds) of cocaine. Authorities alleged she handed over the cocaine to Elliot James Shaw, 50, during a police sting operation at a Bali hotel. A Brazilian national identified as YB, centre, and South African national identified as LN, right, during a press conference in Denpasar on Thursday (Firdia Lisnawati/AP) The sentences were considered lenient as Indonesia typically hands out severe punishments for drug smuggling, including the death penalty. Indonesian authorities also said they recently arrested a Brazilian man and a South African woman accused of smuggling cocaine. The 25-year-old Brazilian man, identified by the initials YB, was arrested on July 13 shortly after arriving from Dubai and charged with carrying 3,086 grammes (6.8 pounds) of cocaine in his suitcase and backpack at Bali's Ngurah Rai international airport, said Made Sinar Subawa, head of the Eradication Division at Bali's Narcotic Agency. The same day, customs officers seized 990 grammes (2.1 pounds) of cocaine they say was being carried in the underwear of a 32-year-old South African woman, identified as LN, it was said. About 530 people are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, including 96 foreigners, according to Ministry of Immigration and Corrections data. Indonesia's last executions of a citizen and three foreigners were carried out in July 2016. The country has upheld a moratorium on execution since 2017. President Prabowo Subianto has moved to repatriate several high-profile foreign inmates, all sentenced to death or life in prison for drug offenses, back to their home countries since he took office in October. A British woman, Lindsay Sandiford, now 69, has been on death row in Indonesia for more than a decade. She was arrested in 2012 with 3.8 kilograms (8.4 pounds) of cocaine in her luggage. Serge Atlaoui, an ailing Frenchman, returned to France in February after Jakarta and Paris agreed to repatriate him on 'humanitarian grounds'. Indonesia took Mary Jane Veloso off death row and returned her to the Philippines in December. In the same month, the government sent to Australia the five remaining members of a drug ring known as the 'Bali Nine'.


The Irish Sun
2 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Ex-soldier, 34, sentenced to 15 years over the murder of Irish girlfriend on ‘make or break' Spain holiday
A FORMER soldier has been jailed for just 15 years for the brutal murder of his Irish girlfriend at their Spanish holiday hotel. And Keith Byrne has been told that the two years 4 Kirsty Ward was murdered by her boyfriend on their holiday in Spain Credit: Collect image 4 Keith Byrne has been jailed for just 15 years for the brutal murder Credit: Social media - Refer to source 4 It emerged that Kirsty was planning on leaving Keith on their 'make or break' holiday The sentencing decision, revealed overnight in a 121-page written ruling by the judge who presided over Byrne's trial at a court in the east coast Public prosecutors had demanded a 20-year jail sentence for the 34-year-old Irishman after a jury convicted him of strangling Kirsty to death with a hair straightener power cord at their four-star hotel in the popular Costa Daurada resort of Salou on July 2 2023, after she told him she was leaving him. And a private prosecutor for Kirsty's family said after the guilty verdict, she was still seeking the 30-year sentence she argued for before and during the Sentencing judge Susana Calvo Gonzalez ruled the fact Bryne and his 36-year-old partner had been in a stable eight-month relationship made the horror READ MORE ON KIRSTY WARD But she said the convicted killer's consumption of The judge said in her lengthy ruling, rejecting arguments private prosecutor Estela Cortes put forward to justify a 30-year prison term: 'I understand that there is a prevailing basis for imposing the lower penalty and, therefore, imposing a sentence of between seven years and six months and 15 years. 'Within that range, the recognition of the aggravating circumstance and the motivation for the act…lead to the imposition of the maximum penalty, which is 15 years in Jurors found Keith Byrne guilty of murdering his South Most read in Irish News The Irishman had claimed during his Tarragona trial the mum-of-one committed suicide at the four-star Magnolia Hotel. He described himself as a 'respectful and intelligent' father-of-three who would never commit an act of domestic violence - and demonised Kirsty as someone who could be 'four people in one day', especially after binging on alcohol and cocaine, he claimed, made their romance 'toxic'. 'YOU'RE MINE OR YOU'RE NOBODY'S' Kirsty's mum Jackie Ward described Byrne as someone she 'didn't like' and 'didn't trust' on day one of the trial on April 23, and said she had found out after her daughter's death that She was asked as she gave evidence whether she thought her daughter, whose son Evan was 14 when she died, could have committed suicide but replied angrily: 'She did everything for her son. 'She would never ever leave him. She would never do that to him.' Public prosecutor Javier Goimil, a domestic violence specialist, rubbished Byrne's court claim that Kirsty took her own life during his closing speech to the jury on the final day of the murder trial. He claimed the former soldier, who had been living in Duleek, Co He said the forensic evidence pointed to Kirsty being strangled from behind between 8pm and 10pm on July 2 2023, after 'incapacitating herself' with alcohol and cocaine. He told the court: 'Byrne has adapted his version of events of what happened in that timeframe nearly two years on in accordance with the evidence he's learnt there is against him. TOXIC RELATIONSHIP 'He's saying Kirsty tied a cable round her neck and attached it to the door knob but in the state she was in it would have been impossible for her to do that and there's nothing showing there was a knot in the cable. 'What's occurred here is a violent and painful death, a strangulation from behind where someone is pulling from the front to the back. This was not a He added: 'She didn't leave a note for her son or her siblings or her mum and what's more she had bought a plane ticket back to Dublin for July 4. 'Kirsty's relationship with Byrne was very toxic, very intense and very emotional. 'She decided to end it during the week they stayed at the hotel in Salou and her partner couldn't accept that decision. 'His mindset at that moment was: 'Or you're mine or you're nobody's. You, woman, are no-one to say you're going to detach yourself from me the man and have your own independent life. 'That was why he killed her the way he did.' He also said the amount of alcohol Kirsty had drunk before being killed would have significantly impacted her ability to defend herself. WANTED IN ENGLAND Byrne's defence The killer was led handcuffed from the court after learning he was a convicted criminal following nearly two years on remand in prison following his arrest, with the judge deferring sentencing as is normal in Spain. It emerged following Byrne's Spanish arrest that he was wanted in England by the Reports in One of these women previously claimed in an interview with the Irish Independent that Byrne had tried to strangle her in an incident at a property in Co Meath a number of years ago. 'ADORED DAUGHTER' Jackie Ward described her daughter after her death as a 'fantastic friend' to her parents and 'an absolutely adored daughter.' She told the congregation at the Church of John the Evangelist in Ballinteer, Dublin, in July 2023 that she had been an amazing mum to Evan, saying: 'The two of them were an amazingly strong and tight team and I hope to continue the great work she has done. 'To me she was a fantastic friend and an absolutely adored daughter to myself and John. She was a caring sister, a cherished granddaughter and much loved niece and cousin. A loyal and true friend.' Kirsty's family said in a statement after the May 7 jury verdict: 'Our family wish to thank our private prosecutor Estela Cortes and her team for guiding, supporting and representing Kirsty, her son and our family at this very difficult and painful time; Javier Goimil the public prosecutor for his commitment and passion; the Spanish investigation teams and police for their expertise, empathy and understanding; and the jury for seeing and believing in what was the truth about our beautiful Kirsty. 'Our family now requests our privacy be respected, while we grieve and come to terms with all that has happened during the past two years.' The slain Irishwoman's loved ones have yet to react to the sentencing decision. Well-placed legal sources said after Byrne's trial finished, they expected him to be jailed for around 20 years. 4 The shocking murder occurred at the Spanish hotel Credit: Solarpix

The Journal
3 hours ago
- The Journal
Unreasonable force by prison officers and falsified records at Cloverhill Prison, report finds
A REVIEW OF the treatment of prisoners in Ireland by Europe's human rights watchdog has highlighted two cases in Cloverhill Prison in Dublin where inmates were improperly subdued with excessive force. Its report from Ireland details how the flow of drugs in Irish prison, along with extreme and record levels of overcrowding , is creating a dangerous and difficult working and living environment for staff and inmates. A team frmo the Council of Europe visited five prisons in Ireland last year – Castlerea, Cloverhill, Limerick (male and female), the Dóchas centre and Mountjoy Prison High Support Unit - as part of ongoing reviews into the treatment of prisoners internationally. Serious incident complaints, known in the Irish Prison Service as Category A complaints, were filed to management in both cases at Cloverhill, so that the conduct of the officers could be reviewed. One of these accusations had been upheld at the time of the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture's visit last year. Its subsequent report notes that, in two separate incidents, officers were seen 'jumping on the heads' of inmates. Experts conducting the review had serious concerns over the treatment of prisoners and deaths which have taken place at Cloverhill Prison in Dublin in recent years. During one incident in July 2023, a prisoner was being restrained by a number of officers 'in a relatively peaceful manner' at Cloverhill when another officer intervened in the restraint and proceeded to 'jump on the head' of the man in the yard of the prison. A review of the CCTV footage reportedly shows the officer pulling and holding the head of the prisoner, according to the Council of Europe report. The prisoner later alleged that 'unnecessary and unreasonable force was used' to bring him into the prison and that he put into a 'guillotine' hold. He claimed that he received injuries to his torso, back and to the upper part of his spine during the ordeal. An investigation into the incident only upheld that unnecessary and unreasonable force was used to remove him from the yard. Members of the torture prevention committee have voiced concerns as two of the officers involved in the incident were kept in 'direct contact' with prisoners throughout the investigation into the Category A complaint. Advertisement Inmate allegedly 'kicked and punched in cell' In a separate case at the same prison one month before, an inmate claimed he was forcibly placed into his cell before officers allegedly 'kicked him and punched his body, while he was prone on the ground'. The prisoner was being relocated to a different wing of the prison, when he alleged he was beaten in the landing, and accused one of the officers of attempting to strangle him and drag him by his hair. He alleged that he began bleeding from his mouth and his nose before he was moved again, punched and then verbally abused. The investigation into the incident had yet to conclude at the time of the Council of Europe's visit. However, internal documents and CCTV footage relating to the incident was reviewed as part of the Council of Europe's investigation. Its report states that the footage 'appeared to suggested that unnecessary and disproportionate force may well have been applied'. It added: 'CCTV coverage shows that a prison officer jumps on the head of the prisoner [...] pulling his head down and puts the prisoner on the floor.' The Council of Europe has recommended that Cloverhill management have an increase in presence in detention areas and staff 'demonstrate increased vigilance' in their direct contact with prisoners. It has also called for effective investigations of complaints made by prisoners and improved staff training, including a transparent selection procedure and restraint training. In its response, the Irish government said: 'The Irish Prison Service engage with and supports prison management and in particular those staff with the HR portfolio in the implementation of the Disciplinary Code. 'Ongoing support is also provided to management and staff in regard to the implementation of the Disciplinary Code,' it added. It also said that, in order to 'ensure greater visibility' of senior members of prison staff on landings, 'arrangements are being put in place to provide Chief Officers with administrative support'. Deaths at Cloverhill The Council of Europe also reviewed the deaths of four prisoners, which took place between 2020 and 2023, that it believes were preventable. Two of these fatalities happened at Cloverhill Prison. 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