18 months jail for delivery driver holding €36k worth of cocaine
A delivery driver who was holding just under €36,800 worth of cocaine in his home has been jailed for 18 months.
John Roe (38) of Muskerry Road., Ballyfermot, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession for sale or supply of cocaine, cannabis and MDMA tablets at his home on November 16, 2016.
Detective Garda Adrian Eustace told the court that the total estimated street value of all the drugs seized during a search of the home was €42,645.
Gardai also found a weighing scales, plastic bagging and two mobile phones.
When asked about the cannabis found in a garden shed Roe said: “oh fuck, I forgot about that” and said it was nearly a year since he put it there but he couldn’t remember.
He said he was holding the drugs for criminals who he owed a €2,500 drug “debt” to. Text messages about dropping off drugs were found on one of the mobile phones.
Pieter Le Vert BL, defending, said the father of two had an excellent history of employment including working for Coca Cola. When he lost his job he began abusing drugs.
Counsel said Roe “found himself in a hell of unemployment and drug abuse” and believed that getting arrested was the “worst and best thing that happened to him”.
He told Judge Martin Nolan the chance of Roe breaking the law again were “very slim”.
Judge Nolan said Roe was a grown man who knew what he was getting into. He said Roe was holding, distributing and delivering the drugs.
He suspended the last two and a half years of a four year sentence after taking into consideration Roe’s “excellent work history”.
He also noted Roe’s prospects for the future, his plea of guilty and his lack of other criminal convictions.
