‘Beacon of light’ jailed for drug supply

A reformed drug addict who was described as “a beacon of light” for those blighted by drugs in his local community has been given a four-and-a-half-year sentence for having almost €30,000 worth of heroin.

Leslie Hunt, aged 37, was caught with €29,763 worth of heroin in 2013. The court heard he had been a street level drug dealer in the Darndale area of Dublin, who had “a long and deep-seated addiction to drugs”.

He started a residential drug treatment programme last April and a defence witness told the court how Hunt has since turned his life around, “is a talking point in the community”, and is setting “a positive example” for those scourged by drugs.

Michael Bowman, defending, said Hunt that had been “a pariah in his community” but he has now become an example for those whose lives had “been scourged by drugs”.

He asked Judge Martin Nolan to accept that his client can now “be that beacon of light for a community that is fairly bleak and desperately in need of seeing someone break the cycle” of drug abuse.

“He now represents an opportunity for others to say, ‘well if he can do it, I can do it’,” Mr Bowman said.

Hunt, of Moatview Court, Priorswood, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of heroin for sale or supply at his home on September 11, 2013. He has 41 previous convictions, 13 of which are for drug offences.

Judge Nolan said that despite the “outstanding” evidence of Hunt’s rehabilitation he felt a custodial sentence was unavoidable taking into account the seriousness of the offence, his previous record of convictions and his age at the time of the offence. He imposed a four-and-a-half-year sentence.

Hunt, a father of three, told Judge Nolan that he “came to the realisation” in the last 12 months that he needed help.

“I had been given that chance and I saw it as a lifeline,” said Hunt. “I just grabbed on to it. I needed to change my life, it has been going nowhere. Unfortunately I have dragged a lot of people down with me, my children, my community.

“I believe I am going in the right direction.”