Romanian and Pakistani migrants accused of sham marriage plot insists that they really do love each other
Pair arrested as part of an Irish immigration blitz claim they are now in committed relationship
A COUPLE accused of being in a sham marriage plot have insisted in court that they are really in love.
Romanian Ioan Arminia and Pakistani woman Nadia Mir, who live in the same house in Mayo, Ireland are now in a relationship, Castlebar District Court’s Judge Mary Devins was told.
The pair, in their 30s, were arrested and charged as part of an Irish immigration blitz.
But in a case mirroring the plot of Gerard Depardieu’s 1990 rom-com Green Card, the court heard they could still marry.
Both are charged with giving false and misleading information at Castlebar Civil Registry Office on June 9, 2015, with Mir also accused of providing false and misleading information to a Refugee Applications Commissioner officer on September 22.
At a hearing earlier this year, Detective Garda Breandan O Suilleabhain of the GNIB told Judge Devins he believed Arminia had been targeted by a sham marriages gang because he was “vulnerable”.
The garda said that Arminia accepted that at the time it had been a marriage of convenience — but “now he loves her”.
When the case came before the District Court for sentencing yesterday, Arminia, speaking through an interpreter, told the court Mir was now his girlfriend.
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Judge Devins remarked: “So it looks like the arranged marriage might go ahead.”
Mir said she had been refused asylum here but lodged an appeal.
Judge Devins fined Arminia €150 (£126).
She put the case against Mir back until September 21 to determine whether the asylum seeker is eligible for community service.
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