Taxi driver caught with €1m worth of heroin given 10-year jail term
A taxi driver who was caught with €1m worth of heroin in his car and at the home he shared with his partner has been given the 10-year mandatory minimum sentence for this offence by Judge Frank O'Donnell.
Paul Brien (aged 43) of Saul Road, Crumlin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of the drugs for sale or supply on the Ballybough Road and at Marigold Crescent, Darndale on April 24, 2008. He had one previous conviction for larceny.
Detective Garda Eamonn Tighe told Mr Paul Greene BL, prosecuting, that gardaí stopped Brien's taxi on the Ballybough Road following the receipt of confidential information, when half a kilogram of heroin was found in the vehicle.
His passenger has been charged with the same offence and is awaiting trial in February.
A further 4.5 kilograms of the drugs were later found in the wardrobe of the bedroom he shared with his partner.
Judge O'Donnell said he could see "no redeeming features" in the case and noted "if the mandatory minimum sentence is to have any relevance I have to impose it."
He gave Brien credit for time already served in custody.
Det Gda Tighe said that Brien later took full responsibility for the drugs and said he had agreed to transport the smaller haul from "point A to point B" under the direction of another person in order to pay off a cocaine debt he had run up.
He also took responsibility for the larger haul found in his home and claimed that he had been holding it for the same person.
Det Gda Tighe agreed with Mr Luan O Braonain SC (with Mr Niall Nolan BL), defending, that his client was in fear of the people he was storing the drugs for and accepted that he had reasonable grounds for believing this.
He accepted that Brien was not the "brains behind the operation" and did not have the "trappings of wealth" associated with drug dealing.
Mr O Braonain said Brien had three children from his first marriage which ended in 2006 due to the problems he had with his cocaine addiction.
He told Judge O'Donnell that it was a substantial amount of drugs and added that "no excuse could be made for that" but submitted that it was clear that Brien had become involved due to his own addiction and resulting debts.
Mr O Braonain asked the court to accept that there were "exceptional and specific circumstances", considering Brien's level of involvement and co-operation with gardaí, to allow the court to deviate from the presumptive minimum sentence of 10 years.
