Abraham Ayendi (47), an asylum seeker and volunteer pastor, was caught with a fake passport after gardai investigated a road crash.
The Dublin District Court has banned the pastor from driving for four years. District Court Judge Bryan Smyth also fined him a total of €800.
Ayendi, with an address at Balseskin Reception Centre, St Margaret’s Road, Finglas, pleaded guilty to possession of a false document, at a flat at Mountjoy Street, Dublin 1. He also confessed to uninsured driving.
The incident took place on December 6, 2020, as the gardai were attending the scene of a road collision between a cyclist and a vehicle on the North Circular Road.
The driver, Ayendi, provided gardai with different “versions” of his details each time he was asked. After he was arrested, a false passport was found.
Abraham Ayendi was a father of five and was studying healthcare and working in a residential care home, the court heard. He had struggled with homelessness but was now in stable accommodation, his lawyer said.
He asked Judge Smyth to be as merciful as he could in the circumstances.