Three young mothers from Cork who collected cannabis resin valued at €140,000 on a day trip to Dublin were described as "silly and stupid" and jailed for various terms today.
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.
At Dublin Circuit Criminal Court today, Judge Frank 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 sale supply on March 11th, 2005 of 20 kilograms of cannabis resin with a market value of €140,000.
Detective Garda William Armstrong told prosecuting counsel, Mr Fergal Foley BL, 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 Gda 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.
O'Donovan and Duggan had no previous convictions and had never come to garda attention while Tracey had one previous conviction for theft.
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 ten years sentence could be imposed unless a court was satisfied that due to various circumstances such a term would be unduly harsh.
He told the women that their backgrounds and situations, though difficult in various ways, 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. 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 child hoods and I accept that to impose the ten years sentence would be unjust."