Here we go.A suspended sentence for this amount.And he never gave the name of the dealer that supplied him either.If this was cocaine i would have been annoyed but any involvement with Heroin should be an automatic jail term.
June 18th 2008
No jail over city’s biggest heroin haul
A KEEN young sportsman who was worried about his mortgage repayments was caught with the biggest seizure of heroin ever made in Cork city and yesterday he was given a suspended six-year jail sentence.
Brian Wall was sentenced for the category of drugs crime that can carry up to life imprisonment, or a minimum of 10 years.
Judge Patrick J Moran took the view that Brian Wall, 26, of 43 Beech Tree Avenue, Shanakiel, Cork, had learned his lesson.
Detective Sergeant Lar O’Brien said a drugs squad surveillance operation saw Wall arriving at the car park of St Anne’s hospital in Shanakiel at 11am on September 27, 2007. He was seen placing an item at the base of an ESB pole.
Gardaí stopped him 100 metres away and found 24 ounces of heroin wrapped in individual one-ounce bags. A one-ounce bag of heroin had been left at the ESB pole. And when his home was searched another one-ounce deal was found concealed in a video recorder.
The drugs had a total street value of more than €145,000.
“He admitted acting as a store-man and distributor to the various locations around Cork city. He had received a kilo of the drug the previous week and had done three separate drops (of one-ounce deals), nine ounces distributed in total. He was to receive €2,000 for doing it,” said Det Sgt O’Brien.
It was the largest seizure of heroin in Cork, the defendant had no addiction, and he was motivated by the need to make money to repay a mortgage that he and his partner had recently purchased.
Det Sgt O’Brien said the defendant and his partner had €1,000 in wages coming in each week.
Blaise O’Carroll SC said the defendant, who is an accomplished hurler and soccer player, had suffered a sports injury that put his wages down to the basic of €580 per week. Wall testified yesterday that he was unable to get overtime after his injury.
Mr O’Carroll said that a drug dealer — whose name Wall never revealed to the gardaí — approached the defendant when he heard of his mortgage difficulties. The senior counsel said it was a case of the drug dealer hiding behind the defendant’s squeaky-clean character to protect himself.
Wall cried in the witness box and asked for a second chance as he apologised to the court and to his family.
Judge Moran referred to the probation report estimation of Wall as a low risk off re-offending and the character references as he imposed the suspended sentence.
