'Inveterate' West Cork drug-dealer caught with €2k worth of cannabis jailed

Court heard accused 'has been a chronic drug user all his life'

Ivo Santos, 34, of O’Mahoney Avenue, Bandon, Co Cork, had three previous convictions for drug-dealing and was convicted 27 times for having drugs for his own use. Picture: AP/Franka Bruns

An Irish/Portuguese man described as an “inveterate drug-dealer in West Cork” is starting a two-and-a-half-year jail term.

Ivo Santos sat down in the dock and buried his head in his hands after the prison term was imposed on him by Judge Dara Hayes at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Defence barrister Peter O’Flynn said: “He started using cannabis at the age of 13. Both parents were drug users and were quite tolerant of his behaviour. He has been a chronic drug user all his life. 

"But there has been a marked change is his use of substances over the last few years.

“The West Cork divisional drug unit’s interpretation is that he is still active in the drugs scene, associating with known drug users,” Detective Garda Colm O’Mahony said.

Mr O’Flynn said apart from one lapse on cocaine in February when Santos went out with friends, he has been following the guidelines of Arbour House over the last two years and doing well”. 

Santos, 34, of O’Mahoney Avenue, Bandon, Co Cork, had three previous convictions for drug-dealing. He was convicted 27 times for having drugs for his own use, twice for allowing his home to be used for the preparation of drugs and once for cultivating cannabis.

Guilty plea

He was sentenced on his plea of guilty to having €2,000 worth of cannabis for sale or supply at his home in Bandon on July 11, 2019.

Detective Garda O’Mahony said the accused was stopped at 6pm on that date carrying a rucksack on his back.

“When approached by gardaí, he became nervous, unsettled and agitated and attempted to escape from gardaí,” Det Garda O’Mahony said.

As well as the two packets containing a total of €2,000 worth of cannabis, Santos also had the broken butt of a pool cue in his bag and a mobile phone.

When first interviewed, he made no comment to gardaí.

The detective described Santos as an “inveterate drug-dealer in West Cork”.

Judge Dara Hayes said: “What is particularly concerning is that this is his fourth Section 15.” 

That is the section of the Misuse of Drugs Act related to having drugs for sale or supply. The judge said those convictions were aggravating factors in the present case.

The judge said the headline sentence was five years but with mitigating factors the actual sentence to be imposed was one of three-and-a-half years with one year of that suspended.