A Dublin road engineer who rented an apartment for use as a brothel to help pay off property loans has been given a suspended jail sentence and ordered to pay over 10,000 to charity.
56 year old Thomas Lyons told gardai he had initially rented the apartment so he could live there with his Brazilian girlfriend, who was involved in the escort industry, but whom he had met socially.
When they split up he advertised the property for 700 euro per week on an Irish escort website to help pay mortgages on three properties and to support his wife and children.
Judge Mary Ellen Ring suspended a sentence of two and a half years on condition that he engage with victim-focused work.
She also ordered that he pay 10,000 euro over to Ruhama, an organisation which deals with the damage done by prostitution.
