Anele Ngwenya jailed for assisting illegal entry into Ireland

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Anele Ngwenya was jailed for 16 months at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for assisting another person’s entry into the State. The proceedings were reported on 29 January 2024.

She came forward on signed pleas of guilty from the District Court. The charge related to assisting the entry of another person at Terminal Two, Dublin Airport, on 5 October 2023. The prosecution said Ngwenya agreed to escort a 16-year-old girl using a fake passport for payment. She co-operated with gardaí and said she was struggling for money. Defence counsel said there was no evidence of aggravating features, and Ngwenya understood that what she did was wrong and illegal. Judge Martin Nolan described it as a serious offence but accepted it was a crime of desperation and said it was not an insidious human trafficking before imposing the 16-month sentence.