A man accused of trying to obstruct his deportation when brought to Dublin Airport says it is a case of mistaken identity and says gardaí mixed him up with one of his nine identical brothers.
Sam Okwuoha (28), a Nigerian national, was brought before Dublin District Court following a Garda National Immigration Bureau investigation.
He is charged with a single offence contrary to the Immigration Act 1999 and was refused bail.
According to court documents, a deportation order was signed in respect of Okwuoha in January by the Minister for Justice and the accused obstructed or hindered an authorised person, namely Det Garda Graham Dillon, in carrying out the order.
The detective said Okwuoha, who previously lived in Dublin, replied “I am not the person” when the charge was put to him on Tuesday.
Dillon also said he had a “lengthy list” of reasons for why he was objecting to bail, including that Okwuoha had a bench warrant history for failing to attend proceedings in the State and for “giving different names, using different dates of birth and identities”.
Paddy Flynn, defending, told the judge his client was seeking bail and maintained he was not the person named in the charge.
But Dillon said: “We are 100 per cent confident.” He said the man’s identity had been confirmed by legitimate authorities.
Okwuoha did not require an interpreter and spoke only during the bail hearing to instruct his barrister, who informed the court that his client said he was “one of decuplets”, a rare occurrence in which 10 children are born from the same pregnancy.
Flynn told Judge Karen Dowling that Okwuoha had identical brothers and that he “swapped places with his brother and came to Ireland”.
The alleged offence is punishable by a fine and a maximum 12-month prison sentence.
The judge stressed that Okwuoha, who has yet to enter a plea formally, has the presumption of innocence. However, she held the detective’s evidence reached the threshold to refuse bail.
Okwuoha was remanded in custody to reappear in court on Friday.