Judge delays sentencing Cork bar worker who became addicted to cocaine during covid

The accused admitted possessing €18,700 worth of cocaine and mixing agent

The court heard the defendant developed a cocaine addiction during the covid lockdown and ended up in debt to the real owners of the drugs.

A Bandon bar worker became addicted to cocaine during the covid lockdown and was ultimately found with €18,700 worth of cocaine and mixing agents in the boot of his car.

Detective Garda Shannon Ryan said 48-year-old Liam Crowley of 1 Riverview Estate, Bandon, County Cork, was acting as a storeman for the real owner of the drugs.

Defence senior counsel, Ray Boland, said Liam Crowley had been in full-time employment in the bar trade and had never come to the attention of gardaí before. However, when officers stopped him driving at O’Mahony’s Avenue, Bandon, County Cork, on January 23, 2022, they searched the boot of his car and found cocaine and related items.

The cocaine had a street value of €18,700. Stored with the cocaine were two different kinds of mixing agents for cutting up with the cocaine, a food processor and baggies for storing deals. Det. Garda Ryan accepted that the accused was not making financial gain from his involvement with the seized drugs but was “a piece in the jigsaw.” 

“The real owners of the drugs were not handling the drugs themselves but were directing him. He had a debt due to addiction,” Det. Garda Ryan said. Ray Boland said of Liam Crowley: “He was effectively acting under duress to the real owners.

“At the age of 41 he started experimenting with cocaine. He developed an addiction during the covid lockdown. He ended up in debt to the real owners of these drugs. He was not involved in cutting these drugs. He was doing nothing other than storing them,” Mr Boland said.

The accused signed pleas of guilty to two counts, namely the possession of cocaine with a value of €13,000 — the threshold figure for a possible minimum sentence of 10 years — for the purpose of sale and supply, and the possession of the mixing agent.

Judge Helen Boyle said: “I have considered the probation report and a report from an addiction counsellor. Aggravating factors include that you were stopped with over €18,000 worth of cocaine and the trappings of drug dealing. You were actively engaged in storage and transport. 

I accept you were not profiting and you were acting under duress and the real owners were preying on your vulnerability. 

"You have no previous convictions and you have not come to garda attention since this. You were a person who always worked. Due to the covid lockdown you were not working and you developed a full-blown addiction to cocaine.

“You were fully co-operative with the probation service. The probation service puts you at low risk of re-offending. That would also seem to be the view of the detective — they don’t expect to see you in court again.

“Mr Boland asks me to consider a fully suspended sentence. I am not going to do that today. I am going to put sentencing back for a year. If you continue to stay out of trouble I will consider a proportionate sentence at that stage.”