Kilkenny Court - Motorist exchanged own driving licence for ‘fake’ licence

Exchanging a Nigerian driving licence for a South African driving licence to obtain insurance in Ireland backfired for a motorist who has been convicted of motoring offences at Kilkenny District Court.

Emmanuel Ehikioya, 4 Cois na Feadain, Caragh Road, Naas, pleaded guilty to charges of driving without insurance, not having a driving licence, using a false instrument and having custody/ control of a false instrument. He also pleaded guilty to a charge of being in illegal possession of drugs.

On Friday, February 17 last, at 11.30am, gardaí stopped a vehicle being driven by Mr Ehikioya, at the N77 Bonnetsrath.
The garda noticed the car was not taxed. Mr Ehikioya produced a South African driving licence to the garda. He later admitted he got this licence from a friend and it was not real.

The vehicle was seized and taken to the garda station. A search of it found cannabis worth €10.
No driving documents were produced.

Solicitor Ed Hughes said his client is 29 and has been living in Ireland for four years. Mr Ehikioya came from Nigeria and is an asylum seeker here. He is permitted to work.

On his arrival in Ireland Mr Ehikioya lived in Sligo. He got a job in Kildare and lost his accommodation in Sligo.
For a year Mr Ehikioya worked without accommodation and lived in his car, Mr Hughes said.

Mr Ehikioya originally had a Nigerian driving licence, the solicitor said. However, a man told him he could get insurance for him and gave him a South African driving licence. The man also made Mr Ehikioya hand over his Nigerian licence.

This other man did get a valid insurance policy for Mr Ehikioya with the South African licence. However the invalid licence negated this.

His client thought this other man was legitimate, but the new licence was ‘some kind of forgery,’ Mr Hughes told the court. His client had ‘paid a lot of money’ for it, on top of paying his insurance premium.

The cannabis in the car was something a friend had given Mr Ehikioya when he was leaving a previous accommodation, Mr Hughes said. He had ‘just left it’ in the car.
The solicitor said his client is now living in Direct Provision and receiving €38.50 a week.

Judge Geraldine Carthy convicted Mr Ehikioya of being in illegal possession of drugs and imposed a fine of €101.
For driving without insurance he was disqualified from driving for two years. A fine of €150 was imposed for being in custody/ control of a false instrument and the other charges were taken into consideration.