In this case, the accused, a British national, sought to smuggle the 6 year old daughter of a friend from Nigeria to the United States where the minor was to join her father. The case was detected on 9 August 2005 at London's Heathrow airport when the accused used her own daughter's British passport to facilitate the travel of the smuggled minor. The accused was later charged and convicted. Her sentence was reduced on appeal.
The smuggled migrant, a minor, travelled by air from Nigeria to London's Heathrow airport, presumably accompanied by the accused who presented herself as the mother of the child when in fact she was a friend of the mother.
There is nothing in the case report suggesting that the accused in this case sought to obtain or obtained a financial or other material benefit for his involvement in this smuggling venture.
NigeriaUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandCrown Court
On 10 August 2005, the accused pleaded guilty to charges relating to facilitating illegal entry and obtaining services by deception. She was sentenced on 23 September 2005.
Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
The accused appealed against her sentence, arguing it was manifestly excessive. Having regard to the decision in R v Le [1999] 1 Cr App R (S) 422 and the particular circumstances of the cases, the Court allowed the appeal and reduced the sentence to 15 months' imprisonment.
In sentencing the appellant, the court took into account the seriousness of the offending, especially the fact that a small child was crossing international borders on false documents and was to be taken to a country where she had no status and no entitlement to be there. The court did, however, also consider the unique circumstances of the case, including the fact that the child was to join her father in the United States.
The accused was a friend of the child's mother who was allegedly unable to look after the child. The child's father, who was living in the United States at the time, arranged for the child to be taken to the US.
The accused sought to smuggle a minor from Nigeria via the UK to the United States.
She was also charged with obtaining services by deception.
Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
R v Olulode [2006] EWCA Crim 538 (23 February 2006)
This entry was copied from The Migrant Smuggling Case Database, launched by the University of Queensland Migrant Smuggling Working Group in August 2013.
