A DUBLIN woman who held over €21,000 of cannabis and cocaine to offset a “hash” debt has received a two and a half year suspended sentence.
Anne Marie Buckley (35) with a previous address at Mount Bellew Rise, Lucan, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possessing the drugs at her former home on February 19, 2014.
She has no previous convictions.
Garda Ciaran O’Neill told Gerardine Small BL, prosecuting, that colleagues with confidential information got a warrant to search the address and found the drugs in Buckley’s bedroom.
He said Buckley, who apologised to the other house occupants during the search, had been holding 241 grammes of cocaine worth €16,891 and 219 grammes of cannabis herb worth €4,385.
Buckley told gardaí she had held the drugs for about two months to offset a €1,500 “hash” debt.
She said €100 a week would be knocked off her debt.
Gda O’Neill agreed with Bernard Condon SC, defending, that his client had health difficulties and told colleagues she had been smoking cannabis all her life to “block out problems”.
Mr Condon submitted to Judge Martin Nolan that his client had low intellectual functioning and had since moved to homeless accommodation.
Judge Nolan suspended the sentence, taking into account Buckley’s full co-operation, early admissions, early plea and personal difficulties. He ordered that she undergo 18 months’ supervision.
Aoife Nic Ardghail