Jailed for drug dealing after he was caught with ecstasy and cannabis

By Jessica Magee

A man who told gardaí he would rather do “honest work” instead of drug-dealing has been jailed for possessing over €66,000 worth of ecstasy and cannabis.

Boris Barcanec was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison, with the final 12 months suspended, at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Barcanec (35) had earlier pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis, ecstasy tablets and amphetamines for sale or supply at his home in Willbrook, Whitechurch Road, Dublin 14 on July 5, 2021.

Passing sentence today, Judge Orla Crowe noted that Barcanec was “actively involved” in drug-dealing, to the extent that he invested €20,000 of his own money in buying drugs.

Judge Crowe initially set a headline sentence of five years but reduced this on account of mitigating circumstances, including his considerable efforts at rehabilitation.

At a previous hearing, the court heard that gardaí got a warrant to search Barcanec’s address after they saw a suspected drug transaction taking place outside.

Sergeant Niall Ryan told counsel for the State that gardaí found multiple plastic bags of cannabis in the garage with an estimated street value of €62,248.

Amphetamines valued at €2,527 were also found in the garage in a white plastic bag, while 156 MDMA tablets worth €1,560 were seized from the living room.

Gardaí also found drug paraphernalia including digital weighing scales, a tick list and bagging material.

Barcanec, who is originally from Croatia, was arrested and made significant admissions.

He told gardaí that the cannabis was for selling and that he also smoked cannabis and took ecstasy himself.

Barcanec said he had paid around €20,000 for the cannabis but that it was bad quality and that he wasn’t going to make any money out of it.

He said he had bought around 300 MDMA tablets the previous weekend for around €1,000, paying something like €88 per gramme.

This ecstasy was for himself and for friends to be used at a party, the court heard.

Barcanec said he had been in Ireland for five years and was in trouble with debt.

He had had numerous jobs and was working at the time as a garden landscaper, earning €460 per week.

He has no previous convictions.

Sgt Ryan agreed with Padraig Dwyer SC, defending, that the accused was “generally of good character” and has not come to garda attention since this offence.

The court heard that Barcanec told gardaí: “I’m sorry for this. I’d rather do honest work. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Mr Dwyer cited what he said was an excellent probation report which placed his client at low risk of reoffending.

The court heard that Barcanec takes full responsibility for the offence and was “relieved” when gardaí arrived.

Mr Dwyer said Barcanec has insight into his offending and victim awareness and has managed to deal with his drug addiction, citing his arrest as a “turning point in his life”.

Barcanec wrote a letter to the judge saying that he had experienced the horrors of war in Croatia and later fell into drug addiction to cope with his PTSD.

Mr Dwyer also said that Barcanec commits in the letter to his “decision to heal himself rather than continue to numb his pain with drugs” and has attended a relapse prevention programme as part of “his unwavering commitment to a drug-free lifestyle”.