Man with cannabis stash hit with 10-year sentence

A 10-year jail sentence was imposed today on a drug dealer who was caught getting out of a taxi with a stash of cannabis resin.

Michael Coughlan’s mandatory minimum jail term could not be reduced, the sentencing judge said, as he had not given any material assistance to the Garda investigation.

Coughlan of Frankfield Terrace, Southern Road, Cork, claimed that he could not help the gardaí as the person he was working for had attended Cork Circuit Criminal Court today and yesterday to hear what Coughlan would say.

"I would be afraid for my family and for myself actually," Coughlan told Judge Sean O’Donnabhain.

The accused who pleaded guilty to having over €250,000 worth of cannabis resin for sale or supply to others said he believed he would be maimed for life if he helped the gardaí.

Judge O’Donnabhain said he had looked at the case from every angle and could not impose any less than the mandatory minimum of 10 years.

Detective Garda John Sheedy was at Errigal Heights, The Glen, Cork, on January 5 last year and he saw Coughlan getting out of a hackney car with a black plastic bag containing 60 bars of cannabis resin weighing a total of 15 kilos.

At the time Coughlan refused to say where he had come from but on investigation Det. Garda Sheedy discovered that he had come from Frankfield Terrace where he was living at the time. A search warrant was obtained and a further 20 bars consisting of 5 kilos of cannabis resin was found under a bed.

The total value of the drugs seized that night was €254,000.

"He admitted what his involvement was but we do not believe that it was true. He said he was bringing drugs from A to B.

"We believe he is a distributor of drugs in the Mayfield and Glen area. He is definitely not a storeman for drugs. I know him for a number of years," the detective said.

Judge O’Donnabhain said he did not believe Coughlan, who is aged around 30, when he said he was in fear of the man he said employed him in the drugs business.

The judge said the defendant was probably telling the truth when he described this person as a close friend when he spoke to the probation officer.