A man who was holding almost €50,000 of cannabis due to a drug debt has been jailed for two years.
Lee Hardy (27), of Georges Hill apartments, Halstons, Dublin 7, pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis for sale or supply on January 18th, 2022. He has no previous convictions.
The offence comes with a mandatory presumptive sentence of 10 years imprisonment, which a judge can only depart from in exceptional circumstances.
Passing sentence, Judge Martin Nolan said Hardy had a drug addiction and was used by unscrupulous third parties. He said it had been a misjudgement by Hardy, who had a good work history and was a pro-social individual.
Judge Nolan said Hardy’s guilty plea and cooperation in relation to his own role allowed him to depart from the mandatory minimum sentence in this case.
He said he was taking into account the amount of drugs, Hardy’s culpability and that he was put upon and holding drugs for third parties.
He said, unfortunately, he could not consider a non-custodial sentence in the circumstances, imposing a two-year sentence from Friday's date, adding that he was being as lenient as he could.
Seizure
Garda Alan Browne told Diana Stuart BL, prosecuting, that gardaí acting on confidential information searched the premises and found 2kgs cannabis in a bedroom.
They also recovered weighing scales, bagging equipment and two mobile phones.
Hardy said the items belonged to him, adding that no one else in the house had anything to do with them.
Gda Browne said the drugs were valued at €49,022.
The garda agreed with Ronan Munro SC, defending, that Hardy, who has no previous convictions, was acting on the instructions of others and holding the drugs for a third party.
Hardy suffered a personal tragedy in the recent past, counsel added.
Mr Munro handed in a number of letters, including a character reference, and told the court that his client had been in full-time employment since leaving school.
He said he had been working under a debt and was not a mastermind in the offending, adding that he is still young and is tackling his addiction.
Counsel asked the court to consider allowing him to serve some of the sentence in the community.
