'I've had no chance to live as a normal human being,' says drug-dealer jailed in West Cork
Damilara Bammodu, who was given three 10-month jail sentences, had never acquired any legal status since he arrived in Ireland, aged 15, in 2007. File photo
A man who claimed he had little choice but to turn to drug-dealing due to his lack of legal status in Ireland has been convicted after cannabis and cocaine were found in clothing and a shoebox in his home.
Damilara Bammodu, 28, was intercepted by gardaí when travelling back to Castletownbere from Dublin last March after drugs and cash, some of which was later determined to be the proceeds of drug crime, were found in his home in the West Cork town.
At Bantry District Court, Judge James McNulty was told that on March 13 last gardaí searched the property at 16 the Mariner's View in Castletownbere. Mr Bammodu was not present but his partner and their baby son were.
Gardaí found drugs hidden in clothing in a wardrobe and in a shoebox in a bedroom - cannabis worth €1,556, cocaine worth €2,234 and a sum of cash totalling €5,750 - although gardaí later accepted that just €2,000 of this was related to crime and the remainder was properly accounted for.
On the same day, having ascertained that Mr Bammodu was travelling back from Dublin, he was intercepted near Bandon, where cannabis worth €50 was found on his person.
Sgt Trish O'Sullivan said that at Bantry Garda Station following his arrest Mr Bammodu made full admissions regarding having the drugs for sale or supply.
Carmel Goggin BL, representing Mr Bammodu, told the judge that her client had only started selling drugs just two months before he was caught, and only to friends and not to wider society. Judge McNulty queried how Mr Bammodu would have sufficient friends to supply such a large quantity of drugs to.
Ms Goggin outlined how Mr Bammodu, who is originally from Lagos in Nigeria and has no parents, first came to Ireland via a family friend, aged 15, in 2007.
She said he was in the care of the HSE from 2015 to 2018, but that care stopped and then began a "downward spiral" which included being homeless in Dublin, becoming addicted to cannabis, and becoming a father for the first time aged 18. That child, now 11, lives in Dublin with her mother.
Ms Goggin said her client had never acquired any legal status, had not been able to access social welfare or education, does not have a Leaving Certificate and has worked odd jobs. He is in a relationship with his partner, from Castletownbere, and their baby boy was born in September last year.
With earning potential limited by the pandemic, he thought selling drugs was a quick way to make money, Ms Goggin said. Mr Bammodu told the judge his partner was aware of his drug-dealing but not involved.
"That does not make her a bad person," Mr Bammodu said.
He said:
He then described delivering leaflets door-to-door, washing cars and sometimes relying on partners over the past decade.
He said he acknowledged his background did not give him the right to act as he did and added: "When you are desperate and you have no other way in front of you, you tend to think irrational.
"I never did any of this for the wrong intentions. I can only do what I can."
Judge McNulty said the fact remained that there was a 10-year gap during which Mr Bammodu could have tried to secure his status, when he had been "living in the real world".
"If he has deluded himself into thinking this is an acceptable option, then he is badly mistaken," the judge said.
Giving Mr Bammodu credit for his guilty plea and expression of regret, the judge imposed three 10-month jail sentences for the sale and supply of cannabis, cocaine and for money-laundering, taking two charges of simple possession into account and fining him €300 on a separate offence of possession.
Appeal was lodged on Mr Bammodu's own bond of €100.
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