Woman gets suspended sentence after being caught with over €24,000 of cannabis

By Jessica Magee and David O’Sullivan

A woman has been given a suspended sentence after she was caught with over €24,000 worth of cannabis, including two mature cannabis plants, which she said she was using to alleviate joint pain from her auto-immune condition.

Aisling Dekker (33) of Caledon Court, East Wall, appeared before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Wednesday after she pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis for sale or supply at her home on July 28, 2021.

She further pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis at her home on the same date.

In sentencing, Judge Orla Crowe described the offence as “inherently serious” and said drug offences cause “grievous harm” to society.

Judge Crowe said the aggravating factors in the case included the quantity of drugs and “the impact that drugs have on society.”

Mitigating factors included that Dekker made an early plea of guilty, immediately cooperated with gardaí, has shown remorse and has no previous convictions.

Judge Crowe sentenced Dekker to three years’ imprisonment, but suspended the sentence fully on strict conditions.

At an earlier sentence hearing, Garda Stephen Flynn said Dekker was coming home from the shops with groceries when gardaí arrived at her house with a search warrant. When asked if there were any drugs in the house, Dekker produced two packages of cannabis, some of it in small deal plastic bags.

Gardaí searched the property, seizing the drugs and some drug-dealing paraphernalia including weighing scales and bagging. Gda Flynn told Fergal Foley BL, prosecuting, that there was a strong smell of cannabis on entry into the house.

Gardaí also found two mature cannabis plants, with a market value of €800 each, along with a UV light and a fan in the house. The total value of the cannabis herb and plants was estimated at €24,600.

Dekker went by arrangement to a garda station two days later and took full responsibility for the cannabis. She said she was minding the drug for someone else.

She told gardaí she was growing the plants herself as she used a cannabis derivative to alleviate joint pain caused by her auto-immune condition, urticaria.

Dekker said she had a debt for a car and other childcare costs, but that she did not have a drug debt. She has no previous convictions.

Gda Flynn agreed with Maurice Coffey SC, defending, that Dekker had not been on the garda radar prior to this offence and that he would not be worried about her reoffending in the future.

The court heard that Dekker came to garda attention because of the person who had dropped drugs at her house, who had been someone of interest. Gda Flynn agreed that although Dekker had made no comment when interviewed in relation to the cannabis, she had otherwise cooperated with gardaí.

Gda Flynn also agreed that Dekker had been taken advantage of and exploited, due to certain vulnerabilities and a slight naivety.

Dekker is a stay-at-home mother of three young children.

Mr Coffey said Dekker was smoking cannabis at the time of the offence to alleviate her urticaria which caused swelling of her joints and inflammation of the skin and throat.

The court heard that Dekker’s partner of 18 years and the father of her children has recently started an apprenticeship to become an electrician. Dekker completed her Leaving Certificate at Loreto College, St Stephen’s Green and worked afterwards as a hairdresser, a lifeguard and a barista.

Mr Coffey said his client feels “complete stupidity” that she agreed on a whim to hold the drugs for a “so-called friend” and that she has expressed genuine remorse and regret.

He said Dekker suffers from anxiety and that this offence had thrown “a huge spanner in the works” of her life, which had been going in a very positive direction.