Jail for Dublin man caught transporting €500,000 of cannabis

By Sonya McLean

A man who was caught transporting just under €500,000 worth of cannabis has been jailed for three years and three months.

Conor Delaney (37) previously of Woodvale Drive, Clonsilla, Dublin 15, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to having cannabis for sale or supply at Larch Hill Santry on March 25, 2021.

A co-accused Glen Stankard (26) who was the driver of a van and met Delaney to hand over the drugs, was previously sentenced to six years with the final three and half years suspended.

Stankard with an address at Balrothery Estate, Tallaght, Dublin also pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis for sale or supply at Larchill, Santry on March 25, 2021.

Judge Pauline Codd said when sentencing Stankard, that he had been used as a “cog” by others higher up the chain, however, the value of drugs seized requires a custodial sentence.

Detective Peter Ronan told Lisa Dempsey BL prosecuting, hat gardai were carrying out a surveillance operation on foot of confidential information when they observed the transfer of two boxes from a van driven by Stankard to Delaney.

The boxes were found to contain 25 packages of cannabis weighing 24.8kg, with a total value of €496,384.

Stankard, who was not the target of the surveillance operation, was wearing the insignia of a courier company he had previously worked with. The boxes were also sealed with tape bearing the company’s logo

Both men were arrested at the scene and Delaney was later interviewed. He initially claimed that the first time he saw the drugs was when the officers presented them to him during questioning. He denied the charges and was due to go on trial but later pleaded guilty.

Det Ronan agreed with Dominic McGinn SC defending that his client has “successfully rehabilitated“ from drugs and is now living in Donegal away from Dublin.

It was accepted that he was not the owner of the drugs but was rather holding them and was transporting them.

Mr McGinn handed in a number of letters to the court on behalf of his client, from his mother, sister and himself.

Counsel said Delaney was a drug addict for a long time and at one point was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. He is now drug free.

“He made choices and he made bad choices and he understands that,“ Mr McGinn said.

“He recognises he did wrong and has since changed his life completely, moving himself physically out of the area to become a more constructive member of society,” counsel continued.

He suggested that it would be a “retrograde step” to imprison Delaney.

“A lot of good things would be undone where he to be remanded in custody immediately,“ Mr McGinn continued acknowledging that this “is a big ask“ of the court not to impose an immediate prison sentence.

Judge Martin Nolan accepted that it was Delaney’s “function to transport these drugs to where they were needed“.

He accepted that Delaney had no proprietor interest in the drugs and was holding them for some kind of reward or alleviation of debt.

“He was a mature man at the time and the problems he suffered from where of his own creation,” Judge Nolan said.

He acknowledged that Delaney has done well to rid himself of his drug addiction and accepted he had a supportive family.

Judge Nolan set a headline sentence of six years before he imposed a term of three years and three months.