Woman avoids jail for people smuggling

By Niamh O’Donoghue

A Swiss boarding school educated woman has been given a suspended sentence for smuggling a person into Ireland.

Nko Mpase (62) of Golden Ridge Close, Rush, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to facilitating the entry into the state of another person at Dublin Airport on May 16, 2020.

Ms Justice Patricia Ryan had adjourned sentencing after hearing evidence on a previous date to allow a probation report and documentation in relation to Mpase’s previous educational and work history be provided to the court.

On Friday, Ms Justice Ryan noted the allegations were very serious and took into account factors including her early guilty plea and that she was not financially gaining from the offending. The judge also noted her work ethic and lack of previous convictions.

She set a headline sentence of five years and, taking into account the mitigating factors, imposed a three-year sentence, which she suspended in full on strict conditions.

At an earlier sentence hearing, Garda Sean McGlynn of the National Immigration Bureau told the court that Mpase and another woman arrived at Terminal One on a Ryanair flight from Paris Beauvais Airport.

Both went to the same immigration booth, and Mpase’s travelling companion produced a genuine travel document; however, on inspection, she did not look like the woman in the picture on it.

The woman said she was a Congolese national and had travelled with Mpase from Beauvais Airport. When their phones were looked at, gardai saw communication between the two women on WhatsApp. Gardai found a picture of a ticket on the phone that Mpase had bought for the woman.

Mpase accepted that she had travelled with the woman from Paris but did not make any further admissions. Mpase, as an Irish national, then left the airport.

The court heard the two women were shown on CCTV as having been in each other’s company and sat together on the plane. Data from Ryanair showed the booking was made on the same date. The first transaction did not go through as there was a suspicion of fraud, and then a different card was used to make the booking.

Mpase pleaded on her arraignment date. She has two previous convictions for minor traffic offences and one for threatening behaviour.

Under cross-examination, the garda agreed they did not find any evidence of financial gain, and Mpase has never done anything of this nature before. He also agreed Mpase was in Paris to visit family for five days.

He further agreed that Mpase’s husband died unexpectedly from complications of Covid-19 in 2021. The court heard an old friend from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) made contact with her, and that although no admissions had been made, “the community is tight”.

Patrick McCullough BL, prosecuting, told the court the maximum sentence is 10 years’ imprisonment.

Fergal McMorrow BL, defending, told the court his client came from DRC and “appears to have a very good upbringing”. Counsel said she attended boarding school in Switzerland and trained as a paediatric nurse in Belgium. She fled the war and has been in Ireland since 2001. She first lived in Drogheda and then in Rush, where she worked as a carer and later in a Montessori setting.

She suffered two heart attacks and changed her career. Her husband worked in laundromats for over 20 years and died of complications of Covid-19 in 2021.

Counsel said his client “contributed to this country in a very meaningful way”. He said “she was not in it for profit” but “shouldn’t have done it”. She was anxious about going into custody.