Drug dealers made ‘very nasty threat’ to mother

Drug dealers made a “very nasty threat” to a single mother of three who got into drug debt, a Dublin court has heard, reports Declan Brennan.

Garda Paddy Kelleher was giving evidence at the sentence hearing at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of Anna Stewart (36) for laundering money stolen from a Kildare resident.

He agreed with Kieran Kelly BL, defending, that Stewart had become addicted to cocaine after the break-up of a relationship and racked up a drugs debt.

Gda Kelleher testified that Stewart came under pressure from the drug dealers who told her she could get something taken off the debt if she gave them access to her bank account.

He told the court that they made a further threat “of a very nasty nature”.

Judge Orla Crowe noted that gardai accepted that this was a real threat and was “particularly serious”.

Stewart of Kiltalown Ave., Tallaght, Dublin 24 pleaded guilty to having possession of the proceeds of crime on a date in May 2021.

The court heard that a person in Kildare contacted gardai when they noticed €6,000 had been taken from their bank account in three separate transactions.

The victim was fully reimbursed and the money was tracked to Stewart’s account.

The court heard that Stewart had nothing to do with the taking of the money but allowed her bank account to be used by the criminals.

These criminals used her bank account to launder money a number of other times between June and August 2021, the court heard.

Gda Kelleher confirmed with Mr Kelly that his client didn’t receive any money but only had some of the drug debt reduced.

He said his client previously worked as a cleaner before spiralling into drug use.

He said she is drug-free now and has the offer of a new job. Judge Crowe noted that Stewart is trying to live a pro-social life and has waited a long time for this offence to be dealt with.

She suspended a prison term of two years on condition that Stewart keep the peace and be of good behaviour for one year.