'Vulnerable' pastor caught with €1,100 in crime earnings had set up account using fake ID
A pastor caught with €1,100 in crime earnings in an account set up using a false ID was vulnerable at the time and was used and exploited by another individual, a court heard.
Abraham Ayendi (51) was homeless and had nowhere else to turn when another person offered to set up a bank account so he could get cleaning jobs and earn money.
However, this person took control of this account and took most of Ayendi’s money, a solicitor said.
Judge Stephanie Coggans ordered a probation report and adjourned sentencing to April.
The defendant, with an address at Glasmore Park in Swords, Dublin, admitted transferring, handling or possessing €1,100, which was the alleged proceeds of crime, between two accounts in June 2021.
Ayendi also admitted setting up the KBC account on June 17, 2020, by using a false Portuguese citizen’s ID card in another name.
Sergeant Shane Griffin told Balbriggan District Court a male made a complaint to gardaí on June 21, 2021 that he had been the victim of accommodation fraud.
He said the victim had been in contact with a person on Facebook, who claimed to be a landlord and the victim had paid him €1,100 as a deposit for accommodation.
Sgt Griffin said this individual stopped communicating with the victim after he paid the money and he contacted gardaí.
The sergeant said gardaí investigated the scam and discovered the money had been transferred to Ayendi’s An Post account and then moved to his KBC account, which gardaí also discovered he had opened in 2020 by using a false ID card.
Defence solicitor Fiona D’Arcy said Ayendi was very vulnerable at the time of this incident. He was originally from Nigeria, was a pastor and had been living in South Africa.
He met an individual who said he could help him get a false ID
However, he fled South Africa to Ireland. Ms D’Arcy said Ayendi’s mother became unwell and he returned to Africa to care for her. She said the defendant later returned to Ireland but he was homeless and had no money.
He met an individual who said he could help him get a false ID so Ayendi could get cleaning jobs and earn money.
Ms D’Arcy said this person opened Ayendi’s bank account and took most of his money from his cleaning jobs, leaving him with only a small amount to survive.
She said Ayendi eventually got in contact with Fr Peter McVerry and his life changed completely.
He has since studied for a degree and he met his wife. She is working, Ms D’Arcy said and Ayendi has become guardian and carer to her children.
The defendant knew nothing about the accommodation fraud and had no involvement in it, she added. Ms D’Arcy asked the judge to be as lenient as possible.