Man in jail for drug dealing in Cork pleads guilty to money-laundering charge

Man admitted dealing drugs worth over €90k in court last year but had 'balked' at money-laundering charge, court heard

Defence barrister Donal O’Sullivan said Tomasz Piekarniak, originally from Poland, was concerned about the wording of the money-laundering charge which referred, among other phrases, to 'terrorist financing'. Picture: Larry Cummins 

A man who admitted dealing over €90,000 worth of drugs in Cork balked at the idea of admitting a money-laundering offence in relation to €3,750 of cash seized on the same occasion, but has now confessed to the crime in relation to the cash too.

Defence barrister Donal O’Sullivan said Tomasz Piekarniak, originally from Poland, was concerned about the wording of the money-laundering charge which referred, among other phrases, to “terrorist financing”. 

Mr O’Sullivan said: “He balked at that term.” 

However, following consultation and the assistance of an interpreter, he has pleaded guilty to the offence.

Detective Garda Patrick O’Sullivan testified at Cork Circuit Criminal Court that on December 3, 2021, gardaí searched the home of the accused with a warrant.

“A large quantity of controlled drugs was found in the bedroom. They had a street value of €90,700. Drug paraphernalia [consistent with drug-dealing] were also found. Cash totalling €3,750 was also found. €2,750 of that money was in a suitcase. The balance was in the pocket of a coat found in the bedroom.

“He was arrested and detained and made admissions to the sale or supply of drugs. He said the money was made from gambling,” Det Garda O’Sullivan said.

The accused made full admissions in relation to the drugs and was compliant with gardaí. He had a drug trafficking conviction from Italy in 2001 for which he was sentenced to seven years in prison.

He has been living in Ireland for the past seven or eight years, the detective said.

Donal O’Sullivan said the accused was sentenced last year at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to four years, with the last year suspended for having drugs for sale or supply.

Mr O’Sullivan said the money found at the time of the drugs search should have been dealt with at the time of the sentencing for drugs but that the accused had a difficulty making admissions in relation to that.

The defence barrister suggested it would have been a shorter concurrent sentence if it had been dealt with last year. 

“They should have been dealt with together but it took a bit of time to explain to my client what the charge was about. Not pleading guilty to the money-laundering was not any stratagem or ploy by him to avoid sentence,” he said. 

Judge Helen Boyle has now imposed a sentence of three years, with half of it suspended on the money-laundering offence, to run concurrently with the drugs sentence of three years.

The judge said: “This man was found with a large amount of drugs. He is now accepting this case was connected to the large amount drugs — it was related to the sale or supply of drugs. A mitigating factor is that he pleaded guilty. 

"I think this [delay in the admission to the money-laundering charge] was down to a communication and language difficulty. Mr O’Sullivan [defence barrister] was — with the benefit of an interpreter — able to explain it to him. He is someone who has worked all his life.

“There is another aggravating factor that he had previous convictions in another jurisdiction.”