Man who brought more than €117,000 of cannabis into country to be sentenced later

A South African schizophrenic with no previous convictions will be sentenced later at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for bringing more than €117,000 of herbal cannabis into the country.

Fioranda Abdelkhir (aged 43) was wheelchair-bound with a broken ankle when customs officials stopped her at Dublin Airport on suspicion that she had drugs in her luggage.

Abdelkhir, of Gedult Springs, Johannesburg, pleaded guilty to possessing over 13kg of cannabis herb, worth over €117,745, at the airport on January 1, 2008.

The mother-of-two had been living in one room with her daughter on the equivalent of €20 a week, before she agreed to courier the drugs for a man who’d promised her she wouldn’t be caught in Dublin.

Judge Frank O’Donnell mused that there was a "continuous procession" of "unfortunate" people like Abdelkhir bringing drugs to Ireland.

He said a "message has to go back to South Africa" that the problems these people create for "our unfortunates" must be dealt with.

Detective Garda Trevor Bolger told prosecution counsel, Mr Fergal Foley BL, that Abdelkhir co-operated fully with gardai on her arrest but didn’t know who was to collect the drugs from her once she’d checked in to the Regency Hotel near the airport.

Det. Gda Bolger agreed with defence counsel, Mr Hugh Hartnett SC (with Mr Aidan McCarthy BL), that his client’s various maladies made her more vulnerable to exploitation.

Abdelkhir told gardaí she had been tempted by the equivalent of €2,000 she was promised for the job, but hadn’t received any of that money.

Mr Hartnett submitted that his client was "taken advantage of" and that although her schizophrenia is currently stable, her ongoing physical ailments and depression associated with chronic pain add to her problems.

Judge O’Donnell described the case as "tragic" and put the matter back for sentencing next month.