A man under whose pillow gardaí found a package with cocaine valued at more than €32,000 has been jailed for 30 months by Judge Yvonne Murphy at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
John Sonkeni (31) pleaded guilty to the crime on day-four of this trial recently in the presence of the jury which had spent two days viewing video recordings of his interviews with gardaí.
His co-accused, Ms Priscilla Chirenga (40), was found not guilty by the jury of the same charge of having the cocaine for sale or supply at their apartment in Beresford House, Irish Financial Services Centre, on March 12th, 2004.
Judge Murphy noted that Sgt Liam Carolan, who had discovered the cocaine in the apartment, gave evidence that drug barons had taken to sending in smaller amounts to a number of people rather than larger shipments to try to avoid detection.
She said the prosecution had accepted Sonkeni's guilty plea under section 15 of the Misuse of Drugs Act rather than section 15a which could have had more serious consequences for him.
Judge Murphy said the higher courts had directed that the difficulties experienced by foreigners in Irish prisons should be taken into consideration in sentencing.
Mr Felix McEnroy SC, for Sonkeni submitted that his client was having special difficulty and this was confirmed by Sgt Carolan.
She backdated sentence to start from March 12th, 2004 when he went into custody.
The jury has been told that Ms Chirenga used a false name, "Charity Tonaka" when she signed for a package which had originated in Brazil and was addressed to "John Campbell" at their flat.
She received the package from Garda Greg Reddin of the North Central Division Drugs Unit who was dressed as a postman in a "controlled delivery" operation.
Over 464 grams of cocaine valued at about €32,500 were concealed in the package in the covers of two childrens' books and one about insects.
Sgt Carolan found the package under Sonkeni's pillow with a note on the bed he shared with Ms Chirenga stating: "Your parcel is under your pillow. Good day."