Teen 'forced to store cocaine' after father gave evidence

A 17-year-old boy, who claimed he was forced to store a stash of cocaine worth €1,300 after his father gave evidence against a criminal, has been spared a custodial sentence.

The north Dublin teenager, who was accompanied to the Children’s Court by his father, pleaded guilty to possessing the drugs and possession with intent to supply, at his home, on March 28 last year.

Judge Aingeal Ni Chonduin was told that gardaí obtained a warrant to search the teen’s home and found the cocaine hidden in a bag which was in a press in his bedroom.

Garda Cillian Barry said he recovered “a bag which contained 11 smaller bags wrapped”.

He agreed with the defence counsel that when questioned, the teenager, who had no prior convictions, had said “someone asked me to hold it”.

The court had been told that the boy’s father had been a witness in a Circuit Court case which led to a person receiving a lengthy custodial sentence.

“His family have been under all sorts of pressure as a result of this. This is how this whole thing came into being,” counsel had said.

However, Judge Ni Chonduin said that the teenager “should not have bent to this pressure”.

The boy, who is in part time employment, brought €600 to court which the judge directed was to be donated to charity.

Counsel defending also said that a positive pre-sentence probation had been furnished and that the teen “has realised the errors of his ways”.

Judge Ni Chonduin said the teenager’s parents were already under “severe pressure” and their son’s actions “did not help the situation”. She also said that through his involvement in the drugs offence he was “destroying the lives of other people”.

She applied the Probation Offenders Act leaving the boy without a sentence or a recorded conviction for the crime for which he could have received a sentence of up to one year in custody.