Cork man who had drugs stash in garden gets suspended sentence

Gardai found €3,920 worth of cannabis and  cocaine worth €1,470 at the house.

 A stash of almost €4,000 worth of cannabis was found buried in a garden in Knocknaheeny and a quantity of cocaine was found in a shed and now the man responsible for dealing these drugs has been given a nine-month suspended jail term.

Gardaí with a search warrant, and assisted by the garda dog unit, found the two stashes of drugs. Damien Rea, aged 39, of Killary Green, Knocknaheeny, Cork, pleaded guilty to drugs charges arising out of the seizures. The two most serious charges were of having the drugs for the purpose of sale or supply to others.

Sergeant Dave Delea said at Cork District Court that €3,920 worth of cannabis was found buried in the back garden while cocaine worth €1,470 was found hidden in the shed.

Sgt Delea said the same man had five convictions for drug possession and three for having drugs for sale or supply.

Solicitor Frank Buttimer said: “In relation to the discovery of these items they date back to March 2021. Since these times he has not come to garda attention.

“In or about this time, having recovered from historical addiction to drugs and gambling, as well and at the time of covid, the whole situation came upon him and he regressed with substance misuse. He indicated to the guards he was back in addiction and at the time he had incurred a somewhat significant drug debt.”

The solicitor added that it was not strictly speaking a profitable activity for the accused except in the sense that it was an attempted clearance of a drug debt by agreeing to store the drugs.

“There is a very comprehensive report from probation. The other thing I would like to highlight is his mother’s dependency on him,” Mr Buttimer said.

Sgt Delea said the cannabis and cocaine supply offences were detected on March 20, 2021, when gardaí were investiging the sale and supply of drugs.

Gardaí went to his with the garda dog unit under Garda Pat Harrington.  There was €3,920 worth of cannabis found buried in the back garden. Cocaine worth €1,470 was found hidden in the shed.

The sergeant confirmed the defendant had not come to garda attention since this occurred.

Judge Mary Dorgan said: “I am going to sentence him to nine months suspended for two years (on the two dealing charges). Conditions are that he is to attend all appointments and do any rehab recommended and to engage with the probation services fully.

“No offending, no drug use or off you go and there will be no excuses.”