Somalian man found with over €2k worth of heroin in his underwear jailed

Accused apologised to 'society of Ireland' and said: 'It will never happen again'

Accused pleaded guilty to having €2,300 worth of heroin for the purpose of sale or supply and €100 worth of cannabis for his own use. File picture

A 44-year-old man who was arrested for a drugs search kicked a bag of cannabis under a Garda patrol car as he was leaving it and he later produced a bag of heroin from his underwear and gave it to detectives.

Detective Garda Jeremy Murphy gave evidence of the drug activity by the Somalian national Abdulla Abdi, who has been living in Ireland for 15 years, at the sentencing hearing for his latest offence.

Abdi pleaded guilty to having €2,300 worth of heroin for the purpose of sale or supply and €100 worth of cannabis for his own use.

Dermot Sheehan, defence barrister, brought to the attention of the sentencing judge that the last comment made by the accused when he was being interviewed by gardaí was: “I am very very sorry to society of Ireland. It will never happen again. It is all the sickness I am going through.” 

Judge Helen Boyle sentenced him 18 months but suspended the last 14 months on condition he would enter into a rehabilitation programme under the probation service.

“Heroin is a deadly, dangerous and addictive drug. I accept you were at the lowest end of the chain. You accepted responsibility for this. I accept you suffered from addiction issues and you have been attempting to get into drug treatment,” the judge said.

Previously in this case, a jury was about to be empanelled but his barrister Mr Sheehan asked for the defendant to be arraigned. Abdi then pleaded guilty to possession of Diamorphine (heroin) for sale or supply at Kyrl’s Quay, Cork, on January 14, 2020. He also pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of having cannabis for his own use.

Mr Sheehan asked Judge Boyle to remand the accused on bail so he could attend for residential drug treatment at the Anna Livia Project in Dublin. 

Judge Boyle adjourned sentencing on those terms but he failed to come back from Dublin for the sentencing. Abdullah Abdi has an address at Gardiner Street, Dublin. Garda Dylan Corcoran encountered Abdullah Abdi in Dublin City and arrested him and brought him before Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

In terms of the background to the offences, Det Garda Jeremy Murphy said gardaí had confidential information related to the accused man having drugs. He was arrested for the purpose of a search at the Bridewell Garda Station on November 3, 2021.

“On exiting the patrol car, he took a bag out of his pocket and kicked it under the patrol car. It contained €100 worth of cannabis.

“In the Bridewell, he took a bag of Diamorphine out of his underwear. It had a €2,300 street value. He told us he got the Diamorphine from somebody and he was supposed to give it to someone else and he was to be paid by getting a small amount of heroin for himself,” Det Garda Murphy said.

As well as previous convictions for having drugs for his own use, Abdi has five previous convictions for having drugs for sale or supply to other.

The essential issue is for the accused is to get treatment and how that will be done, Mr Sheehan said.