Jail for man, 63, caught with 280,000 cigarettes

A 63-YEAR-OLD man was jailed yesterday for having a massive quantity of cigarettes for sale without tax stamps at his home.

Liam Kenneally, 63, was sentenced to three years in prison with half of this term suspended at Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday.

Tom Farrell, an officer of Customs and Excise and member of the Cork anti-evasion team, said there was a warrant obtained to search Kenneally’s home at 36 Dunmore Gardens, Knocknaheeny, Cork, following a period of surveillance at his property.

Mr Farrell said that over 280,000 cigarettes and 3.3 kilos of tobacco were found at the defendant’s home and approximately 10,000 more cigarettes were found in his car and in another person’s house, for which Kenneally accepted responsibility.

The search was conducted and all of the cigarettes and property were found on December 22, 2009.

An aggravating factor in the case was that the defendant was before Cork District Court for a similar crime in October 2008 for which he was put on a probation bond and bound to the peace for two years.

In that offence he had 129 kilos of tobacco and 95,000 cigarettes.

Judge Moran noted that despite being given a chance by the court that time, Kenneally totally rejected it by committing a further offence the following July when he had more than 7,000 cigarettes and over four kilos of tobacco. He was given a four-month jail sentence for that offence. Kenneally recently pleaded guilty to the December 2009 offences.

Judge Moran said: “This is very sad for his family and for a man of 63. Obviously you decided to get involved in this activity to make money. You did not take your warning. Your persisted, not once but twice.

“This is obviously an activity going on among us. One reads of the lack of revenue from retailers from cigarettes at a time when the state needs as much revenue as it can get. I do not propose punishing you for that.”

The judge took account of the defendant’s plea of guilty and his age in imposing sentence.

Defence barrister Brendan Kelly said the defendant had worked as a carpenter and later as a docker but he went out on disability after fracturing both ankles.

Mr Kelly said the defendant received €125,000 compensation for those injuries and €60,000 in redundancy in 2005 but had foolishly chosen to invest it in this enterprise and had now lost the nest-egg he was hoping to have for the benefit of his family.

Kenneally pleaded guilty to three counts of having cigarettes and tobacco without a revenue stamp affixed to the products in respect of the search conducted in December 2009.

Mr Barry of the Customs and Excise said Kenneally co-operated fully with the search but would not tell them who sold the products to him.