Ten years for cocaine possession

A young Dublin man has been jailed for ten years for possessing 1kg of cocaine at a garda checkpoint between Lucan and Clonlee nearly three years ago.

Daniel Goulding (aged 25) of Whitechapel Grove, Clonsilla was convicted by a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury after a six-day trial last month of possessing cocaine worth around €70,000 on the Ongar Road, Castleheany on June 14, 2006.

Sergeant Michael Kennedy told prosecution counsel, Mr Remy Farrell BL, that a motorist saw the front seat passenger of a silver Renault Megane in front of his vehicle throw a package into the ditch while they were queuing for a garda checkpoint.

He said the motorist reported the incident to gardaí at the checkpoint and they found the package, containing around 1kg of cocaine, at the side of the road.

Gardai let the motorist go while they searched the Renault driver and his passenger, Goulding, but tracked him down the following night at a similar checkpoint to get his witness statement.

Sgt Kennedy told Mr Farrell that Goulding has 30 previous convictions, including a ten-month suspended sentence for possessing a smoke-pipe hand grenade in a car on December 13, 2005.

Judge Desmond Hogan noted that Goulding was caught "with a garda checkpoint in front of him and a civic minded citizen behind him"

He added: "That citizen should be thanked for his sense of civic duty."