By Natasha Reid
A Dublin man, whose overuse of painkillers following a workplace accident led to a drug addiction and debt, has been jailed for seven years for possession of more than €3 million worth of cannabis and cocaine.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Ian Kidney had not previously been involved in crime, when he came under garda surveillance on April 3, last year.
The 37-year-old, with an address at Sheey Skefinton Meadows, Brookfield in Tallaght, pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of drugs for sale or supply on that date. One count related to the transportation of drugs on the north side of Dublin that day, and the other related to a haul of drugs at a storage facility on the south side.
Garda Brian Kirwan testified that Kidney was observed driving a van to Finglas, where he delivered two boxes to an address on Mellowes Road. That address was searched after his departure and €320,000 worth of cannabis was found.
Kidney then drove into Dublin City Centre, and was stopped by gardaí on Beresford Street. The van was searched and €198,332 worth of cannabis was seized. The accused took ownership of the cannabis found in the van and was taken to Mountjoy Garda Station.
In the meantime, gardaí searched a self-storage unit in Ballymount, where €2.28 million worth of cannabis herb and €5,572 of cannabis resin was uncovered, along with €694,858 worth of cocaine.
Kidney had one of two keys to this unit and his co-accused, who was the leaseholder, had the other. CCTV footage was obtained, which showed both men bringing boxes of drugs into the unit.
Kidney made no admissions about the storage unit at the time, but said he had a drug debt of €15,000.
The court heard that Judge Dara Hayes sentenced the co-accused, Philip Lawless, in December. The 48-year-old of River Forest, Leixlip, Co Kildare received an eight-and-a-half-year sentence, with the final 18 months suspended.
Under cross examination by Dominic McGinn SC, defending, Gda Kirwan agreed that Kidney was a family man, who had been working in baggage handling at Dublin Airport.
However, the court heard that he suffered an industrial accident there, leading to hospitalisation and the subsequent discovery of a spinal tumour, which necessitated a painful surgery. This led to an overuse of painkillers, which developed into drug addiction.
Gda Kirwan accepted that Kidney had a small amount of cocaine in his sock when driving.
He also accepted that gardaí had seized Kidney’s phone, on which Lawless’s number was saved as ‘Bossman’ and that Kidney was operating under Lawless.
“He was one of two key holders to the lock up,” he said, however. “He was trusted.”
Mr McGinn handed in 16 references on behalf of his client, and also told the judge that, as a consequence of his spinal surgery, Kidney has no nerve sensation in a large part of his body.
Judge Martin Nolan noted that the accused was transporting more than half a million euro worth of cannabis to third parties on the day, and had delivered some of it. He said that was serious enough to warrant five or six years in prison, even without his involvement with the storage unit in Ballymount.
“He’s obviously a distributor, transporter and holder of the drugs,” he said. “It seems to me he doesn’t own the drugs, but he is a vital cog in the dealing and distribution.”
He said Kidney was a mature man, who would have to suffer for his “huge misjudgement”.
He imposed a seven-year term on each count, to run concurrently.
“If I hadn’t the guidance of Judge Hayes, it might have been a bit over,” he added, referring to the sentence handed to Kidney’s co-accused.