A Ukrainian man who altered a document to set up an online bank account was given the benefit of the Probation Act.

At a recent sitting of Bantry District Court, solicitor Flor Murphy said his client Dmytro Peredil (38) of No 6, Mountain View, Glengarriff, was pleading guilty to the offence.

Sgt Tom Mulcahy told Judge Joanne Carroll that on June 13th last the accused used an altered image of his Irish Residence Permit in the commission of an offence.

The sergeant said the online banking company noted that the permit had been ‘manipulated’ and could tell that the expiry date was misaligned, so the matter was reported to the Garda Economic Crime Bureau.

When arrested the Ukrainian man admitted that his permit had expired in March 2025 and he’d altered the document using an AI website.

Mr Murphy said his client had applied for the renewal of his visa, but there was a huge backlog with the Department of Justice, and his up-to-date, two-year permit was not issued until November.

‘He accepts that he was not entitled to use the old visa but the state should have issued his Irish Residence Permit in March,’ the solicitor stated.

Judge Carroll acknowledged the delay with issuing the residency documentation but added: ‘Every country in the world has rules. This man manipulated the expiry date. This man must understand that he has been treated very well in this country and must obey the rules,’ said the judge.

The accused was given the benefit of the Probation Act, which means no conviction, but Mr Murphy asked for recognisances to be fixed for an appeal to the circuit court.

Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme.