Man held €60,000 of drugs to protect brother

By David O’Sullivan

A man who kept more than €60,000 of cocaine and cannabis in his apartment to protect his brother from drug-related threats to his life has been given a suspended sentence.

Thomas Kane (29), of Ard Mor Drive, Tallaght, Dublin 24, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of cannabis and cocaine with intent to sell or supply on June 10, 2020.

Detective Garda Niall O’Rourke told the court gardai obtained a warrant to search Kane’s apartment in Ard Mor Drive.

The gardai searched the house and found more than 30g of cocaine and 47.5g of cannabis in the hot press. Another 10g of cannabis was found in the kitchen.

They then searched the surrounding area and found two Adidas bags containing drugs in a bin labelled with Kane’s apartment number.

In those two bags they found almost 3kg of cannabis. The total value of the cannabis was €60,946 and the cocaine was worth €2,149.

Gardai arrested Kane and cautioned him. He replied, “everything is mine” and was brought to the Tallaght Garda Station.

The court heard Kane was holding the drugs because his brother was an addict who had a drug debt. He told gardai there had been threats to his brother’s life.

Det Gda O’Rourke said gardai accept this position.

Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC, defending, said: “There are truly exceptional circumstances at play here.”

He said Kane was not making a profit by keeping the drugs in his apartment and was doing it to alleviate the threat against his brother.

Mr Ó Lideadha said Kane “has a very good prospect of not coming to adverse garda attention in the future” and had been operating under instructions.

He asked the court “to consider the most lenient option” and said “there is a strong public interest argument in not imposing a custodial sentence.”

Kane has two previous convictions for public order offences.

Sentencing him on Friday, Judge Patricia Ryan handed down a five-year sentence, which she suspended in full on a number of conditions.