A Co Wexford man, whose entire five-year sentence for having drugs worth €240,000 had been suspended, is now facing a four-year jail term following a decision by the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday.
The three-judge appeal court upheld arguments by the DPP that the suspension of the five-year term imposed on John Power (23) was "unduly lenient" and it substituted a prison term of four years.
Giving the court's judgment, Mr Justice Hugh Geoghegan, sitting with Mr Justice Paul Gilligan and Mr Justice Michael Hanna, said the court was satisfied the trial judge had not taken into account that there was a mandatory sentence for a conviction for an offence of this nature.
The court considered that the most appropriate sentence in this regard was six years, but, given the mitigating circumstances, it would suspend the last two years, he said.
Power, of Mons Terrace, Bullawn, New Ross, Co Wexford, was given the five-year suspended prison sentence by Judge Alice Doyle at Wexford Circuit Court last February after he pleaded guilty to having cannabis resin for sale or supply.
The trial court heard that 35kg of cannabis resin was discovered in the boot of a car in the defendant's garage.During a Garda operation, Power was noticed unloading the packages from a van and bringing them into the garage with the assistance of two other people.
Moving the appeal against the "undue leniency" of the five-year suspended term, Noel Whelan, for the DPP, said the trial judge had erred by not giving sufficient gravity to the the offence.
The quantity of drugs recovered would have had a street value at the time of €240,000, he said.
An offence of this nature, when the street value of the drug is in excess of €13,000, carries a mandatory 10-year sentence, counsel said.
Opposing the appeal, John O'Kelly SC, for Power, said the sentence imposed was the correct one. It was agreed that Power was "not a major player" in this or any other drug operation, he said.
Power believed the cannabis was worth about €20,000 and had said he was paid €1,000 for the job, counsel said.
He had never been in trouble before, but had got into some bad company and had only got involved in this because he wanted to start up a business.
Power had left school at 17, had attended counselling for taking cannabis, and there was a low risk of him reoffending, he said.