Corkman caught with cannabis worth €300,000 jailed for three and a half years

Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard the main seizure of cannabis — with a street value of €300,000 — was at the man's home address at Winter’s Hill, Sunday’s Well, Cork.

 Being caught with a €300,000 stash of cannabis at a house in Sunday’s Well resulted in the culprit getting jailed for three and a half years.

Judge John Martin imposed a sentence of five years with the last 18 months suspended at Cork Circuit Criminal Court in the case against 33-year-old Stephen O'Hara of 17 Winter's Hill, Sunday's Well, Cork.

The accused signed pleas of guilty to being possession of cannabis herb and possession of cannabis herb for sale or supply in relation to €6,000 worth of the drug on Grattan Street on January 5.

But the main seizure of cannabis — with a street value of €300,000 — was at his home address at Winter’s Hill, Sunday’s Well, saw him charged with possessing cannabis herb and possessing cannabis herb for sale of supply — in a category of offence that could have carried a minimum ten-year sentence.

However, Judge Martin said there were exceptional circumstances that allowed for a departure from that minimum term.

Detective Garda Robert Kennedy of the Cork City Divisional Drugs Squad charged him with the most significant count of having cannabis for sale or supply when its value exceeded €13,000. This threshold figure allows for the possibility of a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years in jail unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Stephen O’Hara signed a plea of guilty to that charge as well as a charge of money-laundering in respect of €15,585 cash seized at his home on the same occasion.