A BRUTAL robber who used gay dating app Grindr to find victims has been hit with another sentence, The Irish Sun can reveal.
Michael Quinn, 24, is already serving 8½ years for holding one victim captive, assault and two counts of robbery.
But Quinn received another three-year term at Dublin Circuit Court earlier this month after admitting to the robbery of another man on June 10, 2018.
The thug, from Cara Close in Coolock, north Dublin, is classified by the court as having a “propensity for violence”.
One source told The Irish Sun: “When Quinn was under the influence of drugs and alcohol he was extremely dangerous.
“He targeted men when they were on their own and terrified them with levels of extreme violence.
“The fact that he received such strong sentences shows just how dangerous he is.”
The victim had been on a night out in Dublin when Quinn’s associate Thomas ‘Baldy’ McDonagh, 36, stole his mobile phone.
But the pair, along with another friend, were later confronted by the man who demanded his phone back.
During the incident, Quinn yelled: “Do you know who you’re dealing with” before punching the man in the face.
He suffered a swollen face and broken tooth in the vicious attack.
As the robbers fled, one of the victim’s friends followed them and gave a description to Gardai.
They were arrested on Grafton Street a short time later by Sgt Chris Jones, who was based at the Pearse Street Crime Unit.
When quizzed, Quinn, who has 33 previous convictions, said he had found the device.
But Gardai had obtained the stolen phone’s passcode and were able to unlock it to prove it belonged to the victim.
McDonagh was jailed for two years on May 16, 2022.
THE captain of the ship busted for carrying €157million worth of cocaine was a top goalkeeping coach at a former Premier League star’s academy, we can reveal.
Soheil Jelveh was a highly-respected figure in the game of football in his native Iran.
The 51-year-old has been behind bars in Ireland since September 2023 following his arrest after 2.2 tons of coke was discovered onboard the MV Matthew in an operation headed by the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau.
The Irish Sun can reveal that when gardai arrested Jelveh from a hospital bed, he had over €50,000 in cash in his possession.
Detectives suspect he was paid up to €20,000 more for his role in the smuggling operation.
The failed cocaine transfer was “controlled” from Dubai, where the Kinahan cartel are based. The Panamanian-registered ship was owned by a company based there, Symphony Marine.
Gardai are probing whether Daniel Kinahan’s mob had a major hand in facilitating the shipment, helping to fund it and in providing logistical support.
In his initial bail hearing at Wexford District Court days after the seizure, Jelveh’s lawyer said his family were living in the UAE city at the time.
But just months beforehand, he had been coaching at unsuspecting former Bolton and Fulham star Andranik Teymourian’s football academy in Tehran.
Today the Irish Sun pictures shamed Jelveh for the first time, after he had previously covered up for the cameras, kitted out in Teymourian’s academy gear as he holds a football with goalkeeper gloves on. He remains listed on the website as a coach.
He had also been a ship captain for 20 years before his arrest.
A source said: “Jelveh was recognised as a very high level and respected goalkeeping coach in Iran.
“He had been working as part of an academy previously there. He should have stayed there, but instead got involved in a major drug shipment and has found himself behind bars on the other side of the world. And that’s where he’ll stay for some time.”
Jelveh pleaded guilty at Dublin’s Special Criminal Court earlier this month to possessing cocaine for supply on board the cargo ship.
The MV Matthew was stormed by the elite Defence Forces’ Army Rangers on September 26, 2023 when it failed to stop for the Navy patrol vessel LE William Butler Yeats.
The cocaine was recovered inside a lifeboat partially burnt after crew members deliberately set it alight.
Jelveh had already departed the ship at that stage after being medically airlifted from it the day beforehand.
He managed to bring over €50,000 in cash with him to hospital, where he was arrested by specialist gardai.
A number of phones were seized from him, including encrypted devices.
It was from these devices that cops got a trove of communications between him and others not aboard the ship.
The texts revealed conversations about the transportation and the delivery of cocaine to a fishing vessel.
Details of the case were revealed after two of Jelvah’s co-accused went on trial after pleading not guilty.
But last Tuesday, Iranian Saeid Hassani, 39, and Filipino Harold Estoesta, 31, altered their pleas.
The latest guilty pleas mean all eight men charged over the record coke seizure have admitted their crimes.
Along with Jelveh, Hassani and Estoesta, Ukrainians Mykhailo Gavryk and Vitaliy Vlasoi, both 32, and 62-year-old Vitaliy Lapa along with Dutch man Cumali Ozgen, 49, and UK national Jamie Harbron, 31, will be sentenced at a later date.
A NEW survey of international students renting in Ireland has found an alarming incidence of accommodation advertised in exchange for sex.
One in 20 renters have been offered rent-free rooming for sexual favours, experts reveal.
And a shocking report laid bare the realities of people trying to source affordable rooms during the housing crisis.
Renting in Ireland: The Housing Crisis from the Perspective of International Students was published by the Irish Council for International Students (ICOS).
Harrowing stories emerged of renters targeted by predatory landlords and that sex-for-rent exploitation is an increasing problem in this country.
Here, Senator Laura Harmon, director of ICOS, explains why more must be done to tackle the problem.
INTERNATIONAL students in Ireland are being exposed to proposals of rent-free accommodation in exchange for sex.
One in 20 renters have been offered a free place to stay in return for sex, and one in seven offered accommodation where they are expected to share a room and the same bed with a stranger.
These are the stark realities faced by students renting in Ireland highlighted in the new report into housing published this week by the Irish Council for International Students.
Unaffordable rents, sub-standard housing, overcrowding and scams are all issues encountered by students in this country in the private rental sector.
This is a symptom of the wider housing crisis and these findings are a new low when it comes to housing in Ireland.
Our new research exposes the alarming realities that international students in Ireland are struggling with — finding safe, affordable and, at the very least, minimum-standard accommodation.
The extent of financial strain and overcrowding is deeply concerning.
Urgent action is needed to address these issues, in particular sex-for-rent exploitation, to ensure that Ireland remains a welcoming and supportive destination for international students.
The Programme for Government has a commitment to introduce a clear legislative ban on sex for rent.
And the Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan, has promised to consult with the Attorney General on this.
However, we heard the same from the former Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, and NO action was taken.
It’s urgent that Ireland sends a clear message that this predatory behaviour will not be tolerated and that the full force of the law will come down on anyone who tries to take advantage of vulnerable people in this way.
There is a risk to Ireland’s reputation as a study destination. Students come to Ireland to benefit from our high quality education, for our culture, our nature and because of the incredible student experience that our colleges provide.
Ana Valdez, an English language student from Mexico living and studying in Dublin, told us: “Decent housing is supposed to be a human right, and although Ireland is a beautiful country with great opportunities, the housing crisis has turned the country into a really bad and impossible experience for many.
“All of this has resulted in overcrowding, poor mental health, sky-high costs, abuse by landlords and even sexual harassment.”
More than one in ten (11 per cent) of respondents said that they had been a victim of an accommodation scam, with only 14 per cent of this group reporting the incident.
Less than a quarter of respondents to this survey said they were aware of their rights as renters.
It’s important that students understand they can report scams to the Gardai, while the Threshold helpline provides info on rights for renters.
Many international students reported living in accommodation that did not meet basic requirements: ─ 12 per cent of respondents didn’t have access to a cooker; one in ten said their accommodation did not have heating and 38 per cent did not have a contract agreement for their accommodation.
If you wish to have a car on the road, it needs to have an NCT and the same should be the case if you are renting a room out.
Fifty-six per cent of respondents agreed their student experience has suffered due to the housing crisis in Ireland.
Three in four English language students and a third of students studying in higher education share a room with at least one other person.
Sixty-one per cent of respondents who said they were working reported that half of their monthly salary goes towards paying their rent, and one in five respondents who worked said that they spend 70 per cent of their income on paying rent.
More than half of those who replied agreed or strongly agreed their mental health had been impacted due to the housing crisis in Ireland.
Forty-one per cent of respondents said that their education has suffered due to the housing crisis in Ireland.
The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless, has committed to publishing a new student housing strategy in the second quarter of this year.
We urgently need this in place — and with clear targets.
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