Addict gets 10 years for €16k cocaine haul

A 10-YEAR jail sentence was imposed on a Clonakilty heroin addict who was caught at Kent railway station in Cork after he stepped off the Dublin train with more than €16,000 worth of cocaine.

Detective Sergeant Jason Lynch said members of the drugs squad approached Raymond Tanner, aged 34, of 14 Crescent Street, Clonakilty, Co Cork, who resisted gardaí and had to be forcibly arrested and brought to Mayfield Garda Station on April 17 last.

There he was searched and the drugs were found in his possession.

Det Sgt Lynch said Tanner had no visible means of supporting himself as he was not in employment and he was not on social welfare. To that evidence, Judge Con Murphy remarked at Cork Circuit Criminal Court: “He is living off fresh air.”

Tanner was interviewed at length by gardaí but the 35-year-old replied: “No comment,” to every single question.

Defence senior counsel Blaise O’Carroll said Tanner had a heroin addiction.

Judge Murphy said after hearing evidence from both sides in the case that Tanner was acting as a courier of cocaine from Dublin to Cork on the date in question. He said the plea of guilty to the charge of having drugs for sale or supply was not as valuable as it might have been in another case as Tanner was literally found with the cocaine in his physical possession.

“He resisted arrest at Kent Station and did not in any way co-operate with the gardaí. There are mitigating factors in that he saved the courts the trouble of a trial, he has a heroin addiction, he is a slow learner, is easily led and likes to be liked and he is a dutiful son to his mother,” said Judge Murphy.

Sentencing the defendant to 10 years in prison, the judge also directed that an enquiry be made into Tanner’s property and assets to ascertain the extent of any wealth he might have from dealing in drugs.