By Natasha Reid
A man who received more than €18,000 into his Revolut account in hundreds of transactions over the course of a year was also caught with over €7,000 of cannabis, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court has heard.
Wojtek Kulik (22), with an address at Cardy Rock Crescent, Balbriggan, Co. Dublin pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering between January 2024 and January 2025.
He also pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis for sale or supply on October 6, 2023 at Chieftain’s Road, Balbriggan.
The court heard that gardaí had seen the defendant walking along Chieftain’s Road with a backpack that day. They asked him to stop, but he ran. He was pursued on foot, with multiple verbal commands to stop and be searched.
Gardaí ultimately caught up with him, and a bag of cannabis worth €7,272 was found. He made full admissions and said he was an addict.
The following year, on December 1, 2024, gardai on patrol in Belmayne saw two men, including the accused, acting suspiciously.
They found a large number of ‘baggies’, along with €330 in cash. He was arrested and taken to a garda station, where a request was made to Revolut for his transactions.
Gardai found more than 300 transactions from several individuals going into his account between January 2024 and January 2025. In total, he had received €18,426.
The court heard that he had a history of substance misuse from the age of 16 and that he had made full admissions.
When caught with the cannabis, the then 19-year-old said he had been given €100 to drop it to someone else and that he was to get to keep a little. He said that he wouldn’t feel safe telling them who he had done the deal with.
“I had a problem and I had to do it,” he said, referring to a drug issue.
The court heard that he seemed to be making progress with his drug issue and that urine analysis tested negative. A probation report was handed to the court.
Defence counsel told the court her client developed an addiction after starting to use cannabis as a teenager and her instructions are that his offending was to offset a debt and to feed his addiction.
Kulik has been engaging with education services while in custody.
Counsel noted Kulik is assessed at high risk of reoffending, adding that he is motivated to engage with services. She asked the court to take into account his guilty pleas and youth.
Imposing sentence, Judge Orla Crowe noted that Kulik was involved in money laundering “over a considerable period of time” which was aggravating.
The judge noted he made admissions to the drugs offence, but was also caught “red-handed”.
She noted his youth, guilty pleas and willingness to engage with services as mitigating features.
Judge Crowe imposed a two-year sentence on the money laundering charges and a concurrent one-year sentence in relation to the drugs offence.
She suspended the final six months of the two-year sentence on strict conditions. Judge Crowe said while the probation report “read poorly”, Kulik was a young person who was “entitled to a shot at rehabilitation”.
She directed him to undergo supervision by the Probation Service for one year post-release and backdated the sentence to last September when he went into custody.