MAN GIVEN SUSPENDED SENTENCE IN WATERFORD CHILD ABDUCTION CASE
A man who abducted and falsely imprisoned an 11-year-old boy over two nights in Waterford has been given a three-year suspended sentence.
Dr Thomas Pfeiffer was found guilty last month by a jury at Waterford Circuit Criminal Court.
The 51 year-old German academic – who lives in Coolfin, Portlaw, Co Waterford – picked up the 11-year-old at Dublin Airport in January 2009 and drove him to his home.
The boy came to Ireland from Berlin to improve his English and Pfeiffer had lied by telling his mother that her son was staying with another family over the weekend before he would be going to the original “host” family on the Monday.
The court heard there had been no physical or other abuse but that the boy felt he had been imprisoned in the house for the two days.
Judge Pauline Codd sentenced the doctor of computer science to three years in jail for the child abduction charge but suspended the sentence for three years.
He received a one-year suspended sentence for two other charges relating to false imprisonment.
Pfeiffer was also ordered to have no further contact with children in educational or research programmes.
