localnews.ie

Courts / Louth / Report

Zimbabwean fraudster posed as child psychologist for years

Date
2023-07-26
Stage
Sentence
Court
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court
Primary locality
Drogheda
County
Louth

Summary

Nikiwe Dube, 41, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after pleading guilty to four charges of using a false instrument and two counts of deception. Judge Elva Duffy stated that Dube, who admitted to the offences, had posed as a child psychologist without the required academic qualifications, abusing the trust of vulnerable children and adolescents. The court heard that Dube used forged documents, including a psychological transcript with a false garda stamp, a fake PSI identification badge, and a false medical certificate, to secure employment. He dishonestly induced TTM Healthcare to place him on their books of employment between August 15, 2021, and September 9, 2021, causing a loss, and induced the HSE to give him an interview for employment on August 18, 2022. Dube received €172,000 in wages and expenses while working for Gateway Residential Care in Sligo. Judge Duffy noted that gardaí have not been able to confirm Dube's true identity, which is of concern to the court. While acknowledging mitigation factors such as his immediate admissions, remorse, and lack of previous convictions, the judge determined the case warranted a headline sentence of five and a half years. The final sentence of four years was backdated to August 5, 2022, when Dube first went into custody.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Zimbabwean fraudster posed as child psychologist for years. Charges or matters: four charges of using a false instrument on dates between November 2019 and February 2022 including a psychological transcript with a false garda stamp, a false identification badge purportedly from the Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI) and a fake medical certificate; two counts of deception in that he dishonestly induced TTM Healthcare to put him on their books of employment, causing a loss, on a date between August 15, 2021 and September 9, 2021 and that he did dishonestly induce the HSE to give him an interview towards employment on August 18, 2022. Procedural stage: sentence

When:

Why: Imposing sentence today, Judge Elva Duffy said Dube had put himself "out there" as a medically-trained professional and was working with children and adolescents who were clearly in a very vulnerable position because they had come looking for help. CNI source report

Case subjects

Nikiwe Dube

Defendant

Charges: four charges of using a false instrument on dates between November 2019 and February 2022 including a psychological transcript with a false garda stamp, a false identification badge purportedly from the Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI) and a fake medical certificate; two counts of deception in that he dishonestly induced TTM Healthcare to put him on their books of employment, causing a loss, on a date between August 15, 2021 and September 9, 2021 and that he did dishonestly induce the HSE to give him an interview towards employment on August 18, 2022 (Admitted)

Plea: Guilty

Outcome: Imposing sentence today, Judge Elva Duffy said Dube had put himself "out there" as a medically-trained professional and was working with children and adolescents who were clearly in a very vulnerable position because they had come looking for help. She said the case warranted a headline sentence of five and a half years before she imposed a sentence of four years, having taken the mitigation into account.

Places mentioned

Court Venue
  • Dublin
  • Dublin Circuit Criminal Court
Residence
Secondary Mention
Incident

Topics

Fraud Stage Sentence

Related court reports

Read the original CNI report

Correction or retraction request

If a fact, identity, locality or legal outcome needs review, email the newsroom with this report's details prefilled.

Email a correction request