A ZIMBABWEAN man faces the prospect of deportation from Northen Ireland after being jailed for 18 months for fraudulently obtaining and using a false passport to obtain a driving licence, a bank account, employment and job seeker’s allowance.
Prosecution lawyer Kirsten McKevitt said that 39-year-old Francis Nyamhingura, of Mountcollyer Avenue, Belfast, first came to Northern Ireland legally on a student visa in 2000.
But, he had then been living in the region illegally at various addresses in the city and Portadown in Co Armagh, until his arrest last September.
McKevitt said that in August 2003 he managed to successfully apply for a passport in the name of Seth Benedict Erskine.
Using the passport, he was able to obtain a Northern Ireland driving licence in the same name.
Over the years, he used both documents to fraudulently obtain other documentation and benefits. However, McKevitt accepted that when it came to obtaining job seeker’s allowance on two occasions, it was unclear as to who had been making the benefit claims under the assumed name.
