Jailed for two years for holding almost €50,000 of cannabis

By Fiona Ferguson

A man who was holding almost €50,000 of cannabis due to a drug debt has been jailed for two years.

Lee Hardy (27) of Georges Hill Apartments, Halstons, Dublin 7, pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis for sale or supply on January 18, 2022.

He has no previous convictions.

This offence comes with a mandatory presumptive sentence of ten years imprisonment, which a judge can only depart from in exceptional circumstances.

Passing sentence today, Judge Martin Nolan said Hardy had a drug addiction and was used by unscrupulous third parties.

He said it had been a misjudgement by Hardy who had a good work history and was a pro-social individual.

Judge Nolan said Hardy’s guilty plea and cooperation in relation to his own role allowed him to depart from the mandatory minimum sentence in this case.

He said he was taking into account the amount of drugs, Hardy’s culpability and that he was put upon and holding drugs for third parties.

He said unfortunately he could not consider a non-custodial sentence in the circumstances.

He imposed a two year sentence form today’s date and said that was being as lenient as he could.

Garda Alan Browne told Diana Stuart BL, prosecuting, that gardai acting on confidential information searched the premises and found two kilogrammes of cannabis in a bedroom.

They also recovered weighing scales, bagging equipment and two mobile phones.

Hardy said the items belonged to him and no one else in the house had anything to do with them.

Gda Browne said the drugs were valued at €49,022.

Hardy has no previous convictions.

The garda agreed with Ronan Munro SC, defending, that Hardy was acting on the instructions of others and holding the drugs for a third party.

Hardy suffered a personal tragedy in the recent past.

Mr Munro handed in a number of letters including a character reference.

He said his client had been in full time employment since leaving school.

He said he had been working under a debt and was not a mastermind in the offending.

He said he is still young and is tackling his addiction.

He asked the court to consider allowing him serve some of the sentence in the community.