Ballyfermot man jailed for storing cocaine in home

By Jessica Magee

A Dublin man described as “not a criminal mastermind” has been jailed for four and a half years, after gardaí found cocaine worth over half a million euro in a van outside his girlfriend’s house.

Lewis O’Keeffe (22) of Kylemore Drive in Ballyfermot, pleaded guilty to multiple counts of possessing controlled drugs and almost €30,000 in cash on July 5 last year.

He was sentenced to four and a half years in prison at a sitting of Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Wednesday.

A prosecuting garda told Breffni Gordon BL, for the State, that confidential information was received about to-ings and fro-ings from a house on O’Moore Road in Ballyfermot.

Gardaí executed a warrant on the day in question and met O’Keeffe and his partner, who lived at the address on O’Moore Road.

Gardaí found cocaine worth €2,500 inside the house along with the sum in cash of €29,265.

A further quantity of over 7.5 kg of cocaine was discovered in a cardboard box in the rear of  Peugeot van outside the house.

In total, the cocaine seized was given a street value of over €527,000.

O’Keeffe told gardaí he didn’t own the drugs but was aware of them.

His own car was also outside the house and he had taken his tax and insurance discs off his car and put them into the van, the court heard.

On arrest, O’Keeffe initially denied wrongdoing but went on to claim some sort of ownership and knowledge of the drugs and cash.

He told gardaí he had accumulated a drug debt of €31,000.

Gardaí agreed with Dominic McGinn SC, defending, that O’Keeffe was “not a criminal mastermind” and was “very low down” in the operation.

Mr McGinn said his client’s family background was a little sad in that he had never known his father and was estranged from his mother.

O’Keeffe lived with his grandparents and cared for his ill grandmother, the court heard.

Counsel described O’Keeffe as the “fall guy or patsy” in the drugs operation, who has to suffer the consequences of the serious wrongdoing of others.

“That’s the nature of the drugs world,” said Mr McGinn.

The court heard that O’Keeffe was a hardworking man who had worked as an industrial cleaner since leaving school and was of previous good character, apart from one further drugs case pending.

Judge Martin Nolan accepted that O’Keeffe had been under severe pressure and had succumbed to temptation to hold money and drugs.

Judge Nolan said it was a bad misjudgement but that O’Keeffe had a low level of culpability and had been very young. “Young people make bad decisions under pressure,” he added.