Sentencing adjourned for drugs under bed

A stash of cocaine worth €31,000 was found under a man’s bed in Carrigaline and yesterday the accused was told he had his priorities wrong in putting his job before his rehabilitation.

Judge Gerard O’Brien said yesterday that while there was a lot favourable to the accused, Gavin Clancy, in the probation report, what jumped out of it was that he had prioritised his job over attending to treatment for drug addiction. The judge said this decision was askew in terms of where Clancy found himself at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Sinead Behan said the accused had changed his view on this and was about to commence a 28-day drug treatment programme at Arbour House.

Judge O’Brien said he was very pleased to hear that Clancy had decided to take up the place on the residential treatment programme and he adjourned sentencing for one year.

Gardaí in Carrigaline searched the home of the young man, who was never in trouble before, and found €31,000 worth of cocaine stashed under his bed. He expressed remorse and described it as a “reality check”.

Despite his previously clean record, he faced the possibility of a mandatory minimum jail term of 10 years.

Detective Garda Rory O’Connell went to the home of Gavin Clancy, aged 24, at Elmside, Carrigaline, Co Cork, and found the drugs, with the co-operation of the accused at the scene.

At Cork Circuit Criminal Court, Clancy pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of the drug at Elmside, Carrigaline, on June 8, 2016, at a time when its street value exceeded €13,000. That is the threshold figure which allows for a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence, unless there are exceptional circumstances.