TWO SOUTH American women, who came to Ireland to "make their fortune", have been convicted of running a brothel at a four-star hotel in Limerick.
The women were arrested by gardaí at the Hilton Hotel on Thursday afternoon after staff at the hotel observed a number of male callers to their room.
Gercilene De Silva (23) and Anna Lucia Sandoval (26), both with addresses in Spain, checked into the hotel three days earlier and were working for an Irish escort agency, Limerick District Court was told yesterday.
The agency operates through an internet website that provides clients with phone numbers to make appointments and details of the nearest car park facilities, according to Garda evidence.
Garda Marie O'Donnell said gardaí found five mobile phones in the women's room along with contact details for clients and a list of appointments which included the fees charged. A large amount of contraception was also found.
The women had nearly €1,000 in cash between them when gardaí entered the room.
Both pleaded guilty to keeping a brothel at the Hilton Hotel, Ennis Road, Limerick, on July 17th.
Defence solicitor Pat Barriscale told the court that De Silva was originally from Brazil but had been living in Spain for the past five years where she had worked as a child minder. He said she came to Ireland in May "to make her fortune". Neither women had any previous conviction and there was no evidence of coercion, the court was told.
Judge Tom O'Donnell said it was the second case of its type that had come before his court in recent months and the second case in which there was no coercion involved.
He imposed four-month suspended sentences and allowed the women to keep €500 of the money seized so they could travel back to Spain.
He ordered them to leave Limerick within 48 hours and also ordered that all the other items seized by gardaí, including the mobile phones and price list, be forfeited.