Man who transported ecstasy 'feared for life'

A man who was transporting €500,000 worth of "ecstasy" tablets which he said was in part payment of a debt has been given a ten year sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Brendan Smith (aged 20), told gardaí he was transporting the tablets to pay off €1,500 of an €8,500 debt he had incurred when he ran into a car while drunk.

Detective Sergeant Graham Sheehan agreed with defence counsel, Ms Isobel Kennedy SC, that Smith was genuinely afraid of the man he owed money to and was justified in fearing for his life.

Smith, of Neilstown Drive, Clondalkin, pleaded guilty to possession of the drugs for sale or supply on January 31, 2007.

Judge Patricia Ryan said Smith was "not a major player and had been in genuine fear of a person whose car he had damaged" but she had to mark the seriousness of the offence.

Judge Ryan imposed a 10-year sentence but suspended the last three years on strict conditions after taking into account Smith’s alcohol dependency, the elements of coercion involved and his early guilty plea.

Det. Sgt Sheehan told Mr Remy Farrell BL, prosecuting, that gardaí acting on confidential information followed a taxi with a single male passenger leaving a hotel in Liffey Valley.

Smith immediately gave his name when the taxi was stopped and a search revealed a suitcase holding a black bag containing ten vacuum packed packets stuffed with around 50,000 "ecstasy" tablets. Smith told gardaí he was intending to divide up the tablets into smaller plastic bags.

Mr David Harridge told Ms Kennedy that Smith had worked for him as an apprentice bricklayer since he was 16 years old but he had had to let him go when his drinking became a problem.

"He lost interest in work. He just wasn’t the same worker that he was before this."

He said he had given Smith a second chance but "the same thing started happening". He told Ms Kennedy he would be happy to give Smith another chance if he got his drinking under control.

"To tell you the truth I liked him when he worked for me for two and a half years."