Three Cork mothers caught with €140,000 of cannabis

Three young Cork mothers who drove to Dublin on a "day out" to collect €140,000 of cannabis and were caught by gardaí when they got lost on the way home have been remanded in custody pending sentence.

Vivienne O’Donovan (aged 27), Farranferris Green, Farranree; Nicola Duggan (aged 27), Dublin Street, Blackpool; Niamh Tracey (aged 27), Fairhill Drive, Fairhill all pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of the drug for sale or sale supply on March 11, 2005.

Judge Frank O’Donnell, who remarked the women appeared to be on a "day out", heard they had driven from Cork to the collection point in Dublin city centre but got lost on the way home and ended up driving northbound on the M1 towards the airport where they were stopped and searched by gardaí.

Judge O’Donnell remanded the women in custody until December telling them: "You are not the classical vulnerable people deprived of options who act as drug couriers. You had options and you took the wrong one."

Detective Garda William Armstrong told Mr Fergal Foley BL, prosecuting, that gardaí found 20 kilograms of cannabis resin with a market value of €140,000 in the boot of the car.

Duggan admitted to gardaí that she had organised the run and had asked O’Donovan to get involved because she had a car. Tracey said she had just "come along for the drive" but knew they were picking up drugs.

Det. Gda Armstrong said gardai regarded the women as "very silly and stupid" to get involved. He said the women expected some small financial reward but were not aware of the value or quantity of the drugs.

He said O’Donovan and Duggan had no previous convictions and had never come to garda attention while Tracey had one previous conviction for theft.

Det. Gda Armstrong agreed with defence counsel for the women that they all expressed remorse, fully co-operated with gardai and were unlikely to reoffend.

Mr Padraig Dwyer SC, defending Duggan, said his "foolish and stupid" client, a single mother of two, accepted that she had "roped in" the others into the collection and she had been in phone contact with the organisers.

Mr Dwyer said that there had been a history of "violence and aggression" within her family and she had gone on to have two children within abusive relationships with older men. He said she had matured in the past year and urged Judge O’Donnell to consider a suspended sentence taking into account the circumstances of the case.

Mr Paul Burns SC, defending O'Donovan, said his client, whom he described as "easily lead, foolish and naive", had brought a car shortly before the incident which had lead to her involvement.

Mr Burns said O'Donovan, a mother of two, had worked up to recently in the catering department of a Cork hospital and had demonstrated her caring nature towards the elderly patients. He said she could still make a worthwhile contribution to society if a suspended sentence was imposed.

Ms Isobel Kennedy SC, defending Tracey, said the involvement of her client had simply been that of a passenger and she had not previously been involved in drugs "in any way shape or form".

Ms Kennedy said Tracey, a mother of one, came from a dysfunctional family background and had been the victim of aggressive behaviour in her own childhood. She said her client had been suffering from anxiety and depression and asked Judge O’Donnell to consider her "exceptional and specific circumstances".