A Dutch national participated in a "sham marriage" to assist a Jamaican overstayer and was backed-up with fake paperwork from a bogus employer, a jury were told today.
The 'couple' were married at Thornton Heath's St. Jude with St. Aidan, Dunheved Road, but Croydon Crown Court heard the UK Border Agency discovered it was a fake union and the pair were not even living together.
Rudy Richard Pulijhun, 55, (pic.top l.) of Lant Street, Borough married Tsahai Deacon-Pulijhun, 36, (pic.top r.) of Fordington House, Sydenham Hill, Sydenham on February 6, 2010.
The prosecution say Deacon-Pulijhun's application to the Home Office to reside in the UK was supported with false documentation provided by businesswoman Dionne Campbell, (pic.bottom) who claimed the husband was employed at her fast-food restaurant.
"We are dealing here with a sham marriage," said prosecutor Mr. Dennis Kavanagh. "That is the nub of the allegation.
"Miss Campbell provided fake employment papers, payslips and letters on behalf of Mr. Pulijhun.
"She told the immigration officials that he was in this country working for her, maintaining the impression there was a normal marriage going on.
"That marriage was investigated by immigration officials and it was inherently suspicious, a false marriage that was a device to allow Mrs Deacon-Pulijhun to stay in this country.
"She arrived in this country in 2001 as a visitor and applied for leave to remain as a student and by the time of the marriage she was an overstayer with no immigration status and in danger of being removed.
"She tried to secure a way to stay in this country by deception."
Nineteen months after the marriage Deacon-Pulijhun applied for leave to remain and Campbell provided supporting documents, claiming Pulijhun was employed at her business 'Patty Island' as a handyman.
However, when quizzed Campbell said he was employed as a cleaner and on his marriage certificate Pulijhun described himself as a driver.
On June 14, last year Deacon-Pulijhun was arrested during a raid on a Stockwell address.
"It was clear she was in a relationship with a gentleman apart from Mr. Pulijhun. That gentleman's photograph was under her bed and there were text messages from him on her phone," explained Mr. Kavanagh.
"Pulijhun was not there, he was in Holland where he lives his life and has children and has no connection with this country whatsoever."
Deacon-Pulijhun, who had been signing at an immigration office for several years, "came clean" suggested the prosecutor.
She is said to have told immigration officers: "I was signing-on for four-and-a-half years and it would be unfair if I did not sort myself out.
"We met at a wedding, I told him of my predicament, and he offered to help me out by marrying me. We were dating, we really were."
Pulijhun denies doing an act to facilitate a breach of UK immigration law; Deacon-Pulijhun denies seeking to remain in the UK by deception and Campbell denies providing false documentation to facilitate a breach of UK immigration law.
Trial continues………….
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