Man who made death threats over drug debt given suspended sentence

A man who supplied drugs to another man on tick and then threatened him that he was “a dead man” when he didn’t pay back the money he owed has been given a suspended sentence.

Ross Maher (26) was contacted by the man and initially agreed to get him €200 worth of cocaine, with the man paying him by Revolut.

He continued to provide drugs to the man in this way until he ultimately began to provide the drugs on tick, which led to the man building up a debt of €2,200.

Maher, of Poolbeg Quay, Ringsend, Dublin 4, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to making threats to kill or cause serious harm on May 31, 2022.

Detective Garda Joe Walsh told Kate Egan BL, prosecuting, that Maher was never charged with drug dealing and never came to garda attention in that regard.

He said the man began to receive text messages from Maher asking for the money back, sometimes up to four messages a day.

He began to pay off the debt in small amounts but Maher messaged asking for his “fucking money” and the man began to receive “aggressive phone calls” from Maher.

He sent Maher a screenshot of an email he received from work which stated that he was due a certain amount of money by May 31st and the man said he would pay him then.

He subsequently messaged Maher to say that he would have the money for him on June 4th.

Det Gda Walsh said Maher replied back: “No I won’t be waiting til Saturday.

“I don’t know who you think you are – I am going to stand all over your head you little rat.

“I am going to sit outside your gaff until I see one of yous, you are actually a dead man I am telling you now!”

The man began to take screenshots of the messages he received and provided those to gardaí when he later reported Maher.

He later got a message saying that he was going to be left in a hospital bed and a message from Maher saying: “Getting the police involved – good man”.

The following Sunday, a man he didn’t know called to the victim’s house.

He forwarded the footage recorded of that visit on his Ring doorbell to the gardaí.

Maher was arrested and made admissions.

He accepted he had been supplying drugs to the victim and said the man was not paying him the money he owed.

He claimed the messages were “heat of the moment stuff” because he felt he was “being made a fool of”.

Maher said he was out of pocket after he bought the drugs for this man from someone with his own money.

A victim impact statement was handed into the court in which the man said that he felt the whole scenario was “extremely stressful” and he was afraid to leave the house.

He concluded the statement however, by suggesting that Maher not be punished.

Det Gda Walsh accepted that Maher apologised during garda interview and was easy to deal with.

He further accepted that the lead garda in the case and the Director of Public Prosecutions had recommended that the case be dealt with in the District Court but the judge there refused jurisdiction.

Judge Pauline Codd said the offence had been aggravated by the fact that it was rooted in criminality owing to the fact that Maher had been providing drugs to the man.

She said that this made the threats he issued “more believable because of the hierarchy in the drug culture” and the “notoriety of beatings” in that culture.

“It didn’t just come out of the blue. The comments escalated and involved him calling to the victim’s house.

“The entire culture is murky and he should have known better than to involve himself in this world,” Judge Codd continued.

She said to describe the victim’s attitude as generous “was an overstatement” but accepted that Maher has a good work history and is the bread winner for his young family.

Judge Codd imposed a sentence of 12 months which she suspended in full on strict conditions.