Six-year sentence for €100,000 cocaine possession

A 37-year-old woman found with over €100,000 worth of cocaine in her home has been jailed for six years by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Jacqueline Griffin of Crinan Strand, Dublin 1, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply the cocaine on January 15, 2003, at her home.

Judge Desmond Hogan said the fact that the cocaine, which was found in hard lumps, was being divided up and prepared for distribution in the presence of her nine-year-old son was an additional aggravating factor of the offence.

He suspended the last 12 months because of her guilty plea and her co-operation with gardaí, and took the same factors into consideration in exercising the court's discretion not to impose the minimum 10-year sentence for Section 15A offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

Garda John Brady said Griffin's house had been under surveillance for a week before gardaí approached it with a search warrant on January 15 last year. A number of people had been seen entering and leaving the house a few hours before gardaí entered it.

Garda Brady said inside the house he found various drugs-related paraphernalia, including weighing scales, plastic bags and knives. Two men, including a foreign national, were also in the house, as was her young son.

One man fled from the scene and threw a bag of drugs into the backyard of the neighbouring house. This bag was later recovered by gardaí, and its contents were included in the total street value of the drugs found in Griffin's house.

Griffin, who also has another child, a 19-year-old son, cried in court as Judge Hogan handed down the sentence. Her nine-year-old son now lives with his father, the court heard.

Her counsel, Mr Anthony Sammon SC, told Judge Hogan that while her involvement in the distribution racket had been significant, her position was at the lower rung of a large network.

She had been addicted to heroin before but had been off the drug for seven years when the incident occurred. She had, however, been using cocaine at the time, and this had been part of her reward for her involvement