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Dublin taxi driver caught with €250k of cocaine gets second chance on TV cooking show

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A taxi driver who fell on hard times and was jailed after being caught storing €250,000 of cocaine has turned his life around after taking part in a TV show.  stephen Boylan (53), was nabbed with the huge stash of coke when, after a tip-off, gardaí raided a shed he was living in Kill, Co. Kildare, in May 2020.  Dubliner Stephen, a separated father-of-two, was pressed for cash when Covid struck and was persuaded by drug dealers to store the cocaine in return for drips-and-drabs payments of €1,000.

Although such a major offence usually carries a mandatory sentence of 10 years, Stephen was handed down a four-and-a-half-year term given it was his first offence and he had co-operated with gardaí.  Following his conviction, he became a model prisoner in Cloverhill Prison and later at the open prison of Shelton Abbey, where he showed his prowess as a master baker and cook, making cakes and biscuits for officers as well as concocting tasty meals for fellow prisoners.

He became so highly regarded by prison bosses that when a new Virgin Media TV series featuring celebrity chef Dylan McGrath began its search for an inmate to join a quintet of marginalised and disadvantaged people, his name was put forward.

<snip> lots more info, incl interview in the newspaper

Talk about a downward spiral:  Taxi Driver --> Drug Mule --> Appearing on Virgin Media One  --> Appearing in Sunday World.  All in 3 years!
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Sports and Gambling / Re: A bet
« Last post by John m on March 26, 2023, 01:41:10 pm »
FRANCE -2 goals @7/2 looks inviting .Ireland are really really poor No midfield no defense .France will use them as shooting Practice .Already 4 against Holland get four or five against us to settle the Goal averages and they should be qualified after two games .
23
Sports and Gambling / Re: Cheltenham Bet
« Last post by John m on March 26, 2023, 11:33:54 am »
Weird... but, assuming you opted to receive future offers by email, I doubt you'll be waiting long for another tenner. I put yesterday's real tenner on a 11/10 winner and lost the free bet but then got another "deposit and bet" a tenner for a free tenner within an hour. As I had €21 in the account I decided to try betting without depositing and that worked. Alas, both the real money and free bets lost!
I have totally lost all interest in the game, was bored watching the screens on the last venture and delighted to get me Fiver profit and pack up.

Hard to have any interest anymore as a Punter when the fav for the Pertempts @Cheltenham 24 runner handicap opens 3/1 having gone up 11lbs from its last run .Bookies are killing their own game .
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Sports and Gambling / Re: Cheltenham Bet
« Last post by Belker on March 26, 2023, 09:30:55 am »
Weird... but, assuming you opted to receive future offers by email, I doubt you'll be waiting long for another tenner. I put yesterday's real tenner on a 11/10 winner and lost the free bet but then got another "deposit and bet" a tenner for a free tenner within an hour. As I had €21 in the account I decided to try betting without depositing and that worked. Alas, both the real money and free bets lost!
I have totally lost all interest in the game, was bored watching the screens on the last venture and delighted to get me Fiver profit and pack up.
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 rofl Well spotted, sir!
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Taxi Talk / 4,200 arrive in Ireland WITHOUT documentation
« Last post by silverbullet on March 25, 2023, 07:57:33 pm »
Migrants?

Crime & Law
Just one prosecution in four years for failing to produce passport on arrival in Ireland
More than 4,200 people arrived at Dublin Airport last year with no travel documentation

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Landing in the State a without a valid travel document is an offence punishable by up to 12 months in prison or a €3,000 fine. Photograph: PA Wire
Conor Gallagher
Thu Mar 23 2023 - 05:00

Just one of the several thousand people who arrived in Ireland without a valid travel document in recent years faced related criminal charges.

More than 4,200 people arrived at immigration control in Dublin Airport last year with no travel documentation, indicating they had destroyed or lost it before reaching immigration control. The majority of these claimed asylum.

Under the Immigration Act 2004 it is an offence, punishable by up to 12 months in prison or a €3,000 fine, for an adult to land in the State without a valid travel document.

According to figures obtained by The Irish Times, just one person has been charged with this offence since 2019. They faced a single charge in 2019 and no conviction was recorded.

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Another person was charged in 2021 with attempting to leave the country without showing a valid travel document to immigration officers. No conviction was recorded in that case either.

The figures were released by the Court Service, which warned some additional cases may have been brought but not recorded properly in court records.


The issue of foreign nationals destroying or losing passports when entering the State has attracted significant controversy in recent months, as Ireland deals with record numbers of asylum seekers entering the country.

Security sources, immigration experts and the Department of Justice say there are various reasons someone might not be charged for failing to produce a travel document.

A Department of Justice spokesman said that in some cases people without travel documents are immediately “returned to their country of origin as soon as is practicable. In these circumstances, the question of prosecution does not arise”. He said prosecution decisions are a matter for the Garda and Director of Public Prosecutions.

A Garda source working in immigration pointed to a provision in the Act stating a person may avoid prosecution if they can prove they had “reasonable cause” for not having a travel document.

They also said humanitarian concerns and the administrative burden of prosecuting so many people for a relatively minor offence may play a role in the low number of charges.

Stephen Kirwan, a solicitor with KOD Lyons specialising in immigration and asylum, said it is a complex area of law. He said that the Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees does not require asylum seekers to have travel documentation when presenting at a border.

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Human traffickers
Additionally, some asylum seekers are accompanied into the country by human traffickers or “agents” who provide them with false travel documents and take them back before the person disembarks the aircraft.

Not having a travel document when reaching immigration “can be an indicator of genuine persecution”, Mr Kirwan said. “It can also absolutely be an indication of someone coming into the country on a false document, destroying that document and trying to enter the country for nefarious purposes. I think the reality is somewhere in between.”

Mr Kirwan said these aspects “assumedly” form part of the authorities’ decision-making when considering whether to bring charges or not.

He said that in recent months the Department of Justice’s Border Management Unit has stepped up checks to prevent people losing or destroying passports between disembarkation and border control. This includes checking passports while people are still on the aircraft.

Separate figures show there was a higher rate of prosecutions of foreign nationals who fail to produce documents showing their identity and nationality while in the State.

There have been 388 such charges since 2019. Only 16 per cent of these cases resulted in a conviction, however.
27
Taxi Talk / Re: No Compo for Paki Scum Black Cunt
« Last post by silverbullet on March 25, 2023, 07:51:50 pm »
I wonder if it could be a defense for the Garda to say, "Everything I said is true.  Actually he is a Black guy from Pakistan and the PULSE computer says he's very dodgy, up to his eyeballs in all sorts.  Therefore a scumbag".

GARDA SAVAGE:

8)
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Bit hard to swing the "promising footballer" excuse when you're 58...
Mickey Harte...two dysfunctional organs, these articles write themselves!! 8)
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Bit hard to swing the "promising footballer" excuse when you're 58...
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‘Impotent’ taxi driver who raped woman after picking her up outside club is jailed

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An impotent taxi driver who raped a vulnerable young woman after picking her up outside a popular nightclub has been handed a 10-year sentence.  Michael Harte (58) preyed on his drunk victim outside a nightclub in Belfast city centre before taking her to a quiet nearby road and raping her.  The evil taxi driver, of Black Mountain Walk, west Belfast, tried to hide his number plate and lied to the victim about the firm he worked for in an attempt to evade justice but was jailed for the attack at Dungannon Crown Court earlier this month.

Judge Richard Greene KC branded him a liar who had deliberately gone looking for an intoxicated young woman to victimise.  “It would have been obvious to you that she was very vulnerable and you formed the intent to rape her shortly thereafter,’’ he said.  “She was at your mercy and you carefully planned where and how you were going to attack her, you parked up in a back street off the main road and committed this appalling sexual assault on her.  “I consider this a carefully planned sexual assault and it is clear the impact on the victim has been profound.”

The court heard how the victim returned home from a night out in October 2016 in “quite a distressed state” with friends immediately sensing something was wrong.  She told her friends she had got into a taxi and was in it for a “long period of time” and thought something had happened but was “too drunk” to remember.  The victim later said in her police interview she remembered “being touched and felt someone on top of her”, adding: “I do feel like I’ve had sex.”

Harte denied raping her and insisted he had “reluctantly” given the victim a lift home, but this was rejected by the jury.  Lawyers for Harte told the court in mitigation their client is “unwell” and suffers from high cholesterol, high blood pressure, back pain, type 2 diabetes and asthma as well as erectile dysfunction.  They also sought to play down his offending by insisting his erectile dysfunction would make him less likely to commit similar crimes in the future.

Referring to the victim’s personal statement, the judge said the victim may never recover from her ordeal and ordered Harte to spend five years behind bars followed by five on licence.  “She describes being consumed by her assault, which is a powerful indicator of the impact of your offending,” he said.  “You continue to deny your guilt and therefore lack remorse, you thought you could sexually assault her and she would not be able to recollect the events and hold you to account for your crime.  “It is obvious she will have significant difficulty getting over what you did to her and in reality she will never do.”  As well as his 10-year sentence, Harte was ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life and was given a sexual offences prevention order for 10 years.

With all those medical things wrong with him, I'm surprised he could turn the steering wheel, let alone pull down the zip on his trousers!  No chance of using the "promising footballer" excuse this time!
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