Drugs courier jailed for five years

A diabetic who used her nine-year-old daughter to disguise her role in a €3.5m heroin and 'ecstasy' operation has been jailed for five years by Judge Des Hogan.

Ashley Dawson was arrested, along with another man, on the Lucan by-pass with 10.5 kilos of heroin and 83,000 'ecstasy tablets in the boot of her car. The man had been travelling in front of her in a white Transit van.

Detective Garda Marie O'Sullivan told the court that the sinister criminals behind the substantial drugs operation told Dawson that the gardai would not stop her if she had a child with her in the car.

Gardai later searched her Local Authority council flat and found a further quantity of heroin, valued at almost €100,000.

Dawson (31), of Dolphin House, Dublin 8, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two counts of unlawfully having in her possession drugs with a market value in excess of €13,000 on September 17, 2001.

Judge Hogan said that having regard to everything that was put before him he accepted that the mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years would be unduly harsh on Dawson.

"However, taking into account the quantity and type of drugs involved I have no doubt that this is the type of offence that warrants a custodial sentence," he said.

"She also kept a large amount of the drugs in her home and I am satisfied that she had knowledge and was aware of what she was doing and was therefore aware of the risk. She was involved in a very dangerous game and got caught," he concluded.

Det Gda O'Sullivan told Mr Fergal Foley BL, prosecuting, that a massive operation involving the Garda National Drugs Unit and a number of unmarked vehicles was put in place after they received confidential information that a large quantity of drugs was being moved to West Dublin.

On the day in question gardai had Dawson's gold Nissan Micra and a white Transit van, which were travelling in convoy, under heavy surveillance.

They followed the vehicles out of Dublin towards Enfield and then back again, where they stopped them at the junction of Lucan and Newcastle on the Lucan by-pass.

A search of Dawson's car revealed a large number of cardboard boxes containing the drugs. The heroin found was worth €2.1m and the 'ecstasy' tablets found were worth €1.2m. Det Gda O'Sullivan added that the heroin that was seized was 50% pure.

During the course of the journey out of Dublin and back Dawson had received a total of 30 phone calls on her mobile and eight messages from individuals behind the operation. Dawson, herself, had made no phone calls.

She was interviewed a number of times at Blanchardstown garda station after her daughter had been taken to her grandmother's house to be cared for.

Det Gda O'Sullivan said she was not that cooperative in the garda station because she was in fear for her own safety and the safety of her daughter.

Her home was later searched and gardai found a further half kilo of heroin with an estimated value of little under €100,000.

The witness added that Dawson was working at the time as a voluntary drug counsellor and had never benefitted materialy from drug trafficking. She said she needed money for Christmas but was only to be paid a few hundred pounds. She was not a drug addict.

The men behind the operation advised her that transporting the drugs in her car was safe because the gardai would not stop her if she had her young daughter with her.

Mr Paul Coffey SC, for Dawson, said his client was diagnosed with diabetes in 1993 and had to be injected six times a day. She became involved in the operation because of an ill-advised friendship with the girlfriend of one of the men behind it.

She was a single mother living in wretched circumstances consistent with dire poverty. She came from a good, hardworking and law-abiding family but on her own admission her life was now ruined.