Man involved in Longford accommodation scam handed suspended prison sentence

A man involved in an accommodation scam has received a four month suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay the sum of €1,000 to Bridgeways Family Resource Centre in Ballymahon.

Sanni Oseize (40), formerly of 11 Rivercourt Apartments. Great Water Street, Longford, appeared before Judge Bernadette Owens last Tuesday, charged with money laundering at Permanent TSB, Lower Main Street, Longford, on December 4, 2018.

Sgt Mark Mahon, for the state, told the court that the victim in this case was a woman living in Germany, who was planning to travel to Ireland to work.

She was in touch with an unnamed individual regarding an apartment for rent and was told she would need to pay the first month’s rent, plus a security deposit, totalling €1,300, to secure the property.

The money was transferred to a Permanent TSB bank account, which was later confirmed to belong to Mr Oseize.

“Correspondence wasn’t directly with my client,” said solicitor, Bríd Mimnagh, “he was paid €250 for the use of his bank account.”

Sgt Mahon explained that the transaction took place via Facebook messenger and that there was no verbal communication between the victim and the unnamed individual.

Mr Oseize has nine previous convictions, none of similar nature to the charges before the court last week. Three of those were for public order, while the rest were for road traffic offences. Eight of those convictions were after the commission of this offence.

“He was in for interview (with gardaí) in September 2021 and he gave a full, clear and honest account of what happened,” said Ms Mimnagh.

“He said he was behind on his rent and an older man told him a friend was sending him money but he didn’t have a bank account. So (Mr Oseize) got €250 for the use of his account.”

The accused, who was working as a kitchen porter, was previously ordered to repay the money to the court, but “part of this straddled Covid” and so he couldn’t work and has only handed in €200.

He has since moved to a hostel on Talbot Street in Dublin and “fallen on difficult times”. He has also been in prison for three months, Ms Mimnagh explained.

“If he had been able to keep his job, he would have made an effort to pay more. He is asking for one chance to show that he will pay it back,” said Ms Mimnagh.

Judge Owens noted that the defendant has been “in custody for some time”, and proceeded to convict and sentence him to four months in prison.

She then suspended that sentence for 18 months on an own bond of €250 and a condition that he pay €1,000 to Bridgeways Family Resource Centre in Ballymahon by March 18, 2025.