Collision driver had false Irish passport

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Andrew Phelan

January 25 2022 07:58 AM

AN asylum seeker and volunteer pastor was caught with a fake passport after gardai investigated a road crash.

Father-of-five Abraham Ayendi (47) was banned from driving for four years when he appeared in Dublin District Court.

Judge Bryan Smyth also fined him a total of €800.

Ayendi, with an address at Balseskin Reception Centre, St Margaret’s Road, Finglas, pleaded guilty to possession of a false document, at a flat at Mountjoy Street, Dublin 1.

He also admitted uninsured driving.

Dublin District Court heard gardai attended the scene of a road accident at the North Circular Road on December 6, 2020, when a cyclist and vehicle had collided.

The driver, Ayendi, provided gardai with different “versions” of his details each time he was asked. After he was arrested, a false passport was found.

The accused was a father-of-five and was studying healthcare and working in a residential care home, the court heard. He had struggled with homelessness but was now in stable accommodation, his lawyer said.

He asked Judge Smyth to be as lenient as he could in the circumstances.