Man who has taken “immense steps” in drug rehabilitation spared jail

By Claire Henry

A man who has taken “immense steps” in his drug rehabilitation has been spared a jail term.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Alan McCabe (26) of Cromcastle Road, Coolock, Dublin, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of drugs for sale or supply at an address at Balbutcher Lane, Ballymun, Dublin, on November 16, 2019. He has no previous convictions.

Passing sentence on Friday, Judge Pauline Codd said McCabe took responsibility and ownership of his actions.  She said the aggravating factors were the significant value of drugs and that there was other drug dealing going on in the house.

Judge Codd said, “The court must consider the amount of drugs and the impact of drugs on society”, and she set a headline sentence of four years.

The judge said she would consider his guilty plea, his personal circumstances, his lack of previous convictions, his letter outlining his shame and remorse and the ”immense steps” this defendant has taken in his rehabilitation as mitigating factors.

Judge Codd sentenced McCabe to two and a half years in prison and suspended it in full for three years.

Garda Michael Byrne told Brian Storan BL, prosecuting, that the house in question was under surveillance by the gardai. Gardai received information that this house was being used to store and distribute drugs.

The court heard that on the date in question, a search warrant was issued, and the house was searched. McCabe was found in the sitting room with €9,886 of cannabis herb as well as drug paraphernalia was also found in the sitting room. McCabe, who was present in the house, did not live there. Another significant amount of drugs was found in the house, which McCabe was not responsible for.

Gda Byrne said that McCabe was not on the garda radar and was not the target of the surveillance operation. McCabe was arrested and interviewed three times; at the time, he was a drug user, but the court heard that following this arrest, he quit ‘cold turkey’ and has been drug-free for five years.

Gda Byrne agreed with Morgan Shelley BL, defending, that at the time, his client was caught up in addiction and was instructed to go to this house and mind a package and wait for a second package. He also agreed that this defendant was on the lowest rung of this offence.

The garda agreed with counsel that McCabe looks like a completely different person since he stopped using drugs and that it is very unlikely that he will be before the courts again.

Mr Shelley handed a letter of apology from his client and a booklet of references to the court. A probation report was also before the court, which placed McCabe at low risk of reoffending. It also stated that McCabe had very strong victim awareness and was ashamed of his actions.

Counsel said his client began using drugs at the age of 16 but was now clean from all drugs since giving up in the aftermath of his arrest.

He said McCabe has spoken on radio and podcasts about his negative experience of using drugs, which has been downloaded thousands of times.

He asked the court to consider section 100 of the Probation Act, but Judge Codd said “it would not be appropriate due to the value of the drugs.”

The court heard that one co-accused was already sentenced to three years in prison. A second passed away before they could be brought before the court, a third had taken a bench warrant, and the fourth was recently arrested after taking a bench warrant.