Three "silly and stupid" young Cork mothers who collected cannabis resin valued at €140,000 on a day trip to Dublin have been jailed for various terms by Judge Frank O'Donnell at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Nicola Duggan (27), Dublin Street, Blackpool; Vivienne O'Donovan (27), Farranferris Green, Farranree; and Niamh Tracey (27), Fairhill Drive, Fairhill, were caught by gardaí when they got lost on their way home.
Judge O'Donnell noted that they appeared to be on a "day out" and told them: "You are not the classical vulnerable people deprived of options who act as drug couriers. You had options and took the wrong one."
He jailed Duggan for five years because she organised the collection for criminals who would profit by selling the drugs on Cork's streets; O'Donovan for four years because she provided her car for the crime; and Tracey for three years as the "least culpable" of the trio.
They pleaded guilty to possession for sale or supply on March 11th, 2005, of 20kg of cannabis resin with a market value of €140,000.
Det Garda William Armstrong told prosecuting counsel the women collected the cannabis in Dublin city centre but got lost on the way home and ended up driving northbound on the M1 towards the airport, where they were stopped by gardaí who found the cannabis in the boot of their car.
Duggan admitted she had organised the run and had asked O'Donovan to get involved because she had a car. Tracey said she had just "come along for the drive", but knew they were picking up drugs.
Det Garda Armstrong, of the National Drugs Unit, said gardaí regarded the women as "very silly and stupid". He said they expected some small financial reward but were not aware of the value or quantity of the drugs.
He said O'Donovan and Duggan had never come to Garda attention, while Tracey had one previous conviction for theft.He agreed with defence counsel that they all expressed remorse, co-operated fully with gardaí and were unlikely to reoffend.
Counsel for Duggan said his "foolish and stupid" client agreed she had been in phone contact with the organisers of the criminal escapade and had "roped in" the others. There had been a history of "violence and aggression" in her family and she had gone on to become a single mother of two children, and had abusive relationships with older men.
Counsel for O'Donovan, a mother of two, said she was "easily led, foolish and naive". Counsel for Tracey, a mother of one from a dysfunctional family, said her involvement had simply been that of a passenger, and that she had not previously been involved in drugs.
Judge O'Donnell said the Misuse of Drugs Act permitted up to life imprisonment for the crime and as the value of the drugs brought it within section 15A of the Act, a mandatory 10- year sentence could be imposed unless a court was satisfied that, due to circumstances, such a term would be unduly harsh.
He told the women their backgrounds and situations, though difficult, didn't equate to a recent case he dealt with in which a foreign national from an impoverished neighbourhood had to serve a long sentence in a foreign country.
He noted what he called "a most unusual letter" from An Garda Síochána in Cork on behalf of O'Donovan, for whose mother, he said, he felt the utmost sympathy.
He had also read the other letters handed in on behalf of the women and had been told that Duggan's partner had initiated proceedings seeking custody of their children.
"Whoever organised this drugs escapade is probably someone close to Duggan and she was doing it for reward," he said.
Judge O'Donnell said that after all the pleas in mitigation and letters, there was little that could be said in favour of the women other than their guilty pleas. The courts must send out the message that drug dealing will be dealt with severely. "On the face of it, the three of you fit into a character of people who lived a normal life, though blighted by various difficulties in your childhoods, and I accept that to impose the 10-year sentence would be unjust."