Posted by The thrice-wed man helped a Moroccan native to fly to Ireland, but avoided jail as the court was told he’s “unlucky in love”.
A three-times married pensioner paid €6,000 for a fake French ID card to secure the unlawful entry into the State of a then 20-year-old Moroccan woman he met on a dating website, a court has heard.
At Ennis Circuit Court yesterday, Roger Bishop avoided jail after the judge imposed a suspended 20-month prison term.
Judge Francis Comerford said the 76-year-old “had engaged in serious offending” for assisting in the unlawful entry into the State at Dublin Airport on March 1, 2024.
The pensioner’s lawyer Kenneth Kerins said his client’s unlawful actions in bringing the woman into Ireland through a false French ID “were borne out of desperation and loneliness”.
The pair met on legitimate international dating website lovehabibi.com and the lawyer said Mr Bishop “was looking for a relationship and someone to take care of him”. The age gap between the couple is 54 years.
Mr Kerins said that Mr Bishop, a UK national who has lived in Ireland for more than two decades, has already been married three times and was going through a divorce with a Tunisian woman around the time of committing the offence before the courts.
He told the court that Mr Bishop, of Little Thatch, Crown, Lissycasey, Co Clare, “seems to be unlucky in relationships”.
He said his client went through a contentious martial breakdown after arriving into Ireland in 2002 with his then wife and two daughters now both aged in their 20s and living abroad.
Investigating Garda in the case, Det Garda Karen Barker from the Garda National Immigration Bureau agreed with State Counsel, Sarah Jane Comerford that the “tenor of the WhatsApp messages was that there was a romantic relationship between Mr Bishop and the woman”.
Det Garda Barker said the woman – now 22 – declined the option of providing a victim impact statement to the court.
Mr Kerins told how after linking online the pair decided to meet and Mr Bishop – 74 at the time – travelled out to Morocco and they spent some time there “and she agreed to travel to Ireland through the sourcing of the false French ID card”.
Mr Kerins said the messages show that “it was hopeful at the beginning and they seemed to be getting on and both parties were excited about her arrival”. Det Garda Barker said the two came to Ireland on March 1, 2024 in a flight from Istanbul, Turkey.
Mr Bishop bought tickets and a French ID card and assisted the woman in travelling to Dublin Airport where he presented his passport and the French ID card with her details on it and gained entry.
On arriving back in Clare, Mr Bishop assisted the woman with securing a PPSN number and a 20-hour per week restaurant job.
However, Ms Comerford said that after successfully returning from a trip to Frankfurt on May 29, 2024 on the fake French ID to meet friends, the woman realised then she didn’t want to remain in the company of Mr Bishop.
The woman travelled to Luxembourg the following month where authorities determined the French ID was fake and she was sent back to Dublin.
Det Barker said the woman then applied for asylum here, has been refused and continues to reside here.
The woman’s return to Ireland sparked a Garda investigation around the fake French ID and Mr Bishop was arrested by appointment and interviewed at Ennis Garda Station in October 2024.
Det Garda Barker said that at interview Mr Bishop believed he didn’t do anything wrong.
Mr Kerins said that Mr Bishop’s only income is the Old Aged Pension and he had a successful career working as an engineer.
He said Mr Bishop has complex medical needs and is due to undergo a procedure shortly that will result in him convalescing for a number of months.
In sentencing, Judge Comerford said there was no evidence of direct exploitation or coercion but there was inherent exploitation as there was an inherent imbalance of the economic circumstances between the pair.
Judge Comerford said the woman agreed to come to Ireland with the false ID on the basis of a romantic relationship.
In sentencing he imposed a headline prison term of 36 months, reduced to a suspended 20-month term due to the significant mitigation in the case.
Who Watches the Watchers? 