Held half a million-euro of drugs in parents’ house to repay drug debt

By Natasha Reid

An air conditioning engineer has been jailed for two years for holding half a million-euro worth of drugs in his parents’ house while they were away in order to pay off a €4,000 drug debt.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was told by defence counsel that Dylan Pennie (34) had his best night’s sleep for some time the night the drugs were discovered because ‘it was now all over’.

Pennie, of Newbury Avenue, Clonshaugh, Coolock pleaded guilty to the possession of €575,000 worth of drugs at that address on May 5, 2024.

The father-of-three also pleaded guilty to laundering €52,320, the proceeds of criminal conduct, on the same occasion.

Garda Enda O’Reilly of Coolock Garda Station told the court that the drugs comprised mainly cannabis, but also included cocaine, ketamine, MDMA and benzodiazepine.

Most were found in the eaves of a converted attic in the house, with a smaller amount in a golf bag in the shed, after gardai obtained a warrant to search the home. The cash was found during the same search.

Gda O’Reilly explained that the owners of the house, Pennie’s parents, had opened the door to gardai, and it was they who were arrested and taken to the garda station once the haul was discovered.

However, the defendant returned home soon afterwards and took responsibility for everything that had been found, but said the drugs were not his.

He told gardaí that he had built up a small drug debt of €4,000 and had been told to hold the drugs and cash.

He said he did not know how much cash he was holding.

He had no previous convictions.

Under cross examination by Paul Murray SC, defending, Gda O’Reilly accepted that Pennie had a drug debt at the time.

He also agreed that a drugs debt leads to pressure and consequences, that people are not ‘asked’ to hold the drugs, but are ‘told’ to do so.

Gardai had asked Pennie in interview: “How did you feel the last weeks that you had it?”

He had said that he was under stress and could not sleep.

He was asked if he could tell them for whom he was holding it.

“I can’t answer for my family,” he said. “I can’t take a chance.”

Mr Murray said that his client had asked him to offer his unreserved apology, remorse and regret to the court, society at large and his family and friends who had attended court to support him.

“Unfortunately, he fell foul of a problem with drugs, such that he ended up here, having been pressurised to hold the drugs and money,” he said.

“He knows it’s entirely his own fault he started on drugs in the first place. He knows how much he has let so many people down and he ends up here to his eternal shame.”

Counsel handed in a number of documents, including reports to show his client was now clear of drugs, after fully engaging with drug rehabilitation following the raid.

His client felt an immense amount of guilt for putting his family and children through this, explained Mr Murray.

He also handed in letters from Pennie’s family, including from some who described him as the rock of the family and from others, who thought there had been a mistake when they heard the news of the garda search.

His client had already spent some time in custody and this had an impact on his family, counsel.

Other letters spoke of the huge stress Pennie had been under at the time.

“He said the best night’s sleep he had for some time was the night of the find, because it was now all over,” said Mr Murray.

Counsel explained that a family member had paid off the drug debt, which had not stayed at €4,000 but had risen, and that this family member was being repaid.

He asked the court to depart from the minimum mandatory sentence of ten years, as there were specific and exceptional circumstances, including his client’s plea and cooperation.

“He’s a man with no convictions, who stupidly built up a drugs debt, and has let down his family, those who rely on him, those who support him,” he said.

“He wasn’t in it for gain. It was to pay off a debt. If he didn’t do what he was told, Garda O’Reilly has conceded there would have been consequences.”

He also asked the court to consider this as one of those exceptional cases where the court can take a “certain course of action”.

Judge Martina Baxter said that she fully accepted she was being asked to impose a fully suspended sentence, but said that only in very rare cases could this happen.

“There have to be consequences,” she said.

However, she said that there were matters that would bring this into the space where she could depart from the mandatory minimum.

She imposed a sentence of four years, and suspended the final two years on a number of conditions.

Family members sobbed as Pennie stood to enter the bond before beginning his sentence.