Cork man jailed for drug stash

Drugs squad gardaí chased a man through several back gardens after they uncovered his €5,000 stash of heroin and cocaine at waste ground.

Yesterday he was jailed for six years.

Jason Heaphy, 31, of 11 Dunmanus Park, Knocknaheeny, Cork, had a three-year suspended jail term hanging over him for drug-dealing at the time he carried out this new drug-dealing offence.

Judge David Riordan activated that suspended sentence and added another three years by way of a consecutive sentence.

Judge David Riordan said: “He is not a heroin user. Sergeant O’Brien was of the opinion he does use cocaine. He left school early and was brought up in a drug-dealing environment, according to the sergeant.”

Earlier this month, a jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts against the accused on charges of having €2,460 worth of cocaine and €2,720 worth of heroin for sale or supply at Kerryhall Rd in Fairhill.

Heaphy pleaded not guilty to charges of having the drugs and possessing them for sale or supply at Kerryhall Road, on the May bank holiday weekend of 2015.

After almost five hours of deliberation, the eight men and four women on the jury came back with their guilty verdicts.

Heaphy had three previous drug-dealing convictions and a fourth for the more serious drugs charge of having €13,000 worth of the drugs.

For that latter offence, he got a 10-year jail term in February 2008, with the last three years suspended.

Detective Sergeant Lar O’Brien said that, in May this year, gardaí received confidential information that Heaphy was preparing drugs at a house at Kerryhall Rd in Cork and storing the drugs at the rear of this house.

A surveillance operation was then put in place.