Man gets 11 years for drugs and firearms possession
The son of "a particularly vicious man" has been given 11 years in consecutive sentences for possession of cocaine and cannabis and then having control of a gun a year later while on bail.
Joseph Duff (aged 21) pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to having cocaine and cannabis valued almost €100,000 for sale or supply on May 3, 2005 and to unlawful possession of a double-barrelled shotgun and ammunition on May 6, 2006.
Duff, of New Street Gardens, Dublin 8 kept the cannabis valued some €95,000 at his sister’s home without her permission as well as cocaine worth €3,876 in a shed at his family home in return for a personal supply of "speed" which he told gardai he took daily and spent €100 on weekly.
Garda Sean Byrne said he accepted Duff’s claim that he had collected the gun for a man who was "hassling" him to repay €800 he had borrowed from him when he came out of prison. He was afraid to name this man.
Garda Kevin Walsh agreed with defence counsel, Mr Niall Durnin SC (with Ms Caroline Biggs BL), that Duff had a difficult upbringing and his father was "a particularly vicious man".
Duff’s sister, Karen, told Judge Delahunt that her brother was "battered and beaten" from the age of four by their father. She said he couldn’t read or write and his family believed he was easily led which she said "caused him to do what others say for acceptance".
Judge Katherine Delahunt noted the evidence about Duff’s upbringing and said the probation report before the court "makes for sad reading at any level".
She accepted that he suffered at the hands of a violent father and that his involvement in the second set of offences before the court were committed "under pressure from an older more sinister person".
Judge Delahunt said it was to his credit that he exonerated his sister in relation to the drugs found in her home. The offences were very serious and he faced "presumptive mandatory consecutive sentences" but she was satisfied that "exceptional circumstances" existed to allow her take a certain course.
She imposed terms of seven and three years to run concurrently on the drugs charges and a consecutive term of four on the gun charge but suspended this sentence for a period of five years on conditions.
Gda Walsh told prosecuting counsel, Mr Ronan Kennedy BL, that 59 ‘nine ounce’ bars of cannabis were found hidden in a sports bag and a shoebox in Duff’s sister’s home. She denied any knowledge of the drugs and said her brother had left them there.
A weighing scales, two notebooks and the cocaine were then found at Duff’s family home.
Duff told gardaí he had stolen his sister’s house keys and left the drugs there without her permission. He said he used the weighing scales to measure out his own drugs to make sure he didn’t take an overdose.
Garda Walsh said he believed Duff wasn’t heavily involved in dealing drugs and was holding the cannabis for someone to whom he owed money and feared.
Garda Byrne told Mr Kennedy that following a call from a member of the public on May 6, 2006 he and a colleague met Duff and another man coming out of Iveagh House. He saw the gun shoved down Duff’’s trousers when he searched him and also found a small bag containing four bullets.
Duff at first claimed he had found the gun and was bringing it to the gardaí but later admitted he collected it in a park in Tallaght for a man he met earlier that day and was to leave it in New Street Park. He said he had borrowed €800 from this man who told him the debt would be wiped out if he collected the gun for him.
Garda Byrne agreed with Mr Kennedy that the gun revealed it was in a poor, corroded condition and incapable of discharging live ammunition. It had been reported stolen a long time previously.
Garda Byrne agreed with Mr Durnin that gardai would consider the man in Duff’s company on that occasion by to be a much more sinister person.
