Dublin man get 13 years for possession of heroin and a firearm

A Dublin man who was renting an apartment for the sole purpose of preparing heroin for sale has been sentenced to 13 years in prison after he also was caught with a loaded semiautomatic pistol in a nightclub.

Trevor Brunton (aged 25) of Broombridge Road, Cabra West, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of the gun at the nightclub in the Spawell Hotel, possession of the heroin, worth €159,361, for sale or supply at Sandlewood Road, Castleknock and possession of ammunition at his home address on December 30, 2006.

Detective Sergeant Joe Molloy agreed with defence counsel Mr Michael O’Higgins SC, (with Mr Michael Bowman BL), that Brunton had the gun for possibly three reasons. He could have brought it to the nightclub as a "bravado to impress girls", to give it to someone else or to use it for protection.

He accepted that Brunton never gave a "satisfactory explanation" for why he had the pistol. "We honestly have no idea why he had it there," Detective Sargent Molloy replied.

He further accepted that Brunton was used by others because as far as the gardaí were concerned "he was a new and unknown face" and that he claimed during garda interview that he never fired the pistol nor tried the ammunition in it.

Judge Martin Nolan sentenced Brunton to eight years in prison for the drug charge and a consecutive five year term for possession of the pistol. He suspended the last four years of the sentence on condition that Brunton keep the peace and be of good behaviour for four years upon his release from prison.

He said it was apparent that while Brunton was not high in the drug hierarchy, he was a willing worker and had a considerable amount of heroin that he was cutting up.

Judge Nolan said he took into account Brunton’s plea of guilty, his relatively blameless record, having one previous road traffic conviction, and the fact that he co-operated with gardai.

He accepted that "if pushed" he could accept that Brunton never intended to use the pistol but said it added "an insidious element" to the operation.

Detective Sargent Molloy told prosecuting counsel Mr Remy Farrell BL that a security guard at the nightclub saw Brunton in a toilet cubicle looking at the pistol in his hand.

He came voluntarily out of the cubicle and was restrained but on walking through the nightclub, Bruton tried to lift the gun into his hand when another security guard slapped his wrist letting the weapon fall to the ground.

It was picked up and placed in a money bag before it was handed onto gardaí and it was later found to be a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol with eight rounds of ammunition in the magazine.

Detective Sargent Molloy agreed with Mr Farrell that as Brunton was being escorted to the front door of the nightclub he offered money to staff to let him go before the gardai arrived.

His home address was searched that same night where 13 rounds of various ammunition was found as well as the keys to the Castleknock apartment. A search of the apartment revealed 32 bags of heroin and 78 rounds of ammunition.

Brunton later took responsibility for the ammunition and gun during garda interview. He claimed that he found the pistol in a field a few weeks previously. He also admitted to selling the drugs and said that he used the profit to pay for the rent on the apartment.

Mr O’Higgins told Judge Nolan that Brunton was a successful GAA player with Liffey Gaels where he was described, by a member of the club, as being dedicated, committed and disciplined. He came from a very respectable family but in his early twenties he started "running with a bad crowd".