Woman jailed for holding €280k worth of drugs in home

By Sonya McLean

A woman has been jailed for four years after she was caught with € 280,000 worth of cocaine in her home.

Emma Burgess (38) of Parkview, Rathborne, Dublin 15, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to having the drugs for sale or supply at her home on May 5, 2023. She has some minor previous convictions.

Garda Shane Cunningham told Sarah Connolly BL, prosecuting, that Burgess ultimately admitted to gardaí, following her arrest, that she had been supplying a small amount of cocaine. She had run up a drug debt and agreed to keep these drugs at her home in an attempt to repay some of that debt.

Gardaí secured a warrant to search Burgess’ home and she immediately admitted that there were drugs in a bedroom. The four kilogrammes worth of cocaine were found on top of a wardrobe.

She took responsibility for the drugs but was not able to identify who had given them to her. She said she had arranged to pick them up from the carpark at Crumlin’s Children’s Hospital in Dublin.

She said she met a person she didn’t know in the carpark and they handed her a heavy black bin.

She didn’t look into the bag and she was told to hold it for some time before somebody would come to pick it up. Burgess told gardaí that she had a debt of about €15,000. She said it was known that she was “in dire financial circumstances”.

She admitted that she sold “a bit of cocaine” and always got paid in cash. There was evidence of drug dealing on her phone in a notes app.

Gda Cunningham agreed with Seamus Clarke SC, defending, that Burgess has two teenage children. He accepted her children have never come to garda attention and appear to be doing well.

Mr Clarke said that Burgess had a debt problem due to her own recreational drug use. He said she had split up from her partner and was a good mother and her children were doing well.

She has since attended for drug treatment and is clean for the last 18 months, counsel said.

Mr Clarke said she had been working as a special needs assistant but is no longer able to work in this area.

Judge Martin Nolan acknowledged that Burgess made immediate admissions and accepted that she was holding the drugs for some type of reward.

“She came into the company of third parties who took advantage of her to some degree,” the judge said before he acknowledged the various testimonials and letters before the court outlining that Burgess is a good mother and has many good points.

He said however that she deserved a custodial sentence before he jailed Burgess for four years.