A restaurant manager who was found with cannabis resin worth €625,000 has been jailed for eight years by Judge Desmond Hogan at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Aodan Marnell (34) from Leopardstown Avenue, Stillorgan was arrested at a house he had been renting on Woodfield Avenue in Inchicore on September 9th, 2001.
A search of the premises uncovered cannabis resin, worth a then IR£490,000, IR£59,000 in cash and drugs paraphernalia, including weighing scales.
Marnell was interviewed by gardaí in Kilmainham Garda station but nothing of evidential value transpired.
He later contacted the Garda National Drugs Unit in Dublin Castle and made a voluntary statement to officers.
He told them that he had met a man some months before who asked him to hold drugs for him and as time went by the quantities got larger.
Det Garda Jim McDermott told the court that gardaí were satisfied that Marnell was just holding on to the drugs and the cash for this other individual and that they did not belong to him. Marnell had admitted he was being paid IR£50 for every kilogram he was holding.
Marnell pleaded guilty to possession of the cannabis resin for sale or supply. He had no previous convictions.
Judge Hogan suspended the last four years of the sentence because Marnell had never been in trouble with the gardaí before and co-operated fully with the investigation. However, because of the value of the drugs involved he felt he had no alternative but to impose a custodial sentence.
"In this case it appears he owned up within a very short time by contacting the gardaí and making an inculpatory statement. In addition, he co-operated with the gardaí to the extent that he was of material assistance to their investigation," he said.
"I will resist the temptation to impose the mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, but I must have regard to the amount, type of drugs and that there was also a large sum of money found.
"The court should take the view that he occupied a position in the sale of these drugs, which was not at the lower rung of the ladder and it is clear that he was trusted with a very large quantity of cannabis and cash," Judge Hogan concluded.
Mr Greg Mullen, who owns a restaurant in Ranelagh, said Marnell had been working for him since shortly after this incident and had always been up front about the pending case. Mr Mullen said Marnell had been a fine asset to his business.
Mr Hugh Hartnett SC, for Marnell, pleaded with Judge Hogan to be lenient because his client had never been in trouble in the past and he was a man of excellent character. He had also contacted the gardaí to make a voluntary statement and he deserved credit for that.
The case had been delayed for some time through no fault of Marnell and Mr Hartnett added that this had caused his client great anxiety and tension over the past three years.
Det Garda McDermot told the court that the man who was behind the consignment of drugs was arrested a short time after Marnell's apprehension and had since been jailed for eight years in relation to two other drug seizures in Dublin and Donegal.