'Important question' raised in drugs case at Court of Appeal
The Court of Appeal has reserved judgment in a case which raises an “important question” regarding construction of the Misuse of Drugs Act as amended.
Stephen Geraghty (aged 50) of Neilstown Drive, Clondalkin, was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in 2011 for possession of cannabis, worth over €4,000,000 for sale or supply at Nutstown, Clonee on November 27, 2003 and possession of €350,000 worth of cocaine for sale or supply in Lucan on May 30, 2004.
Counsel for Mr Geraghty, Ciaran O'Loughlin SC, submitted to the Court of Appeal yesterday a query regarding the Misuse of Drugs Act as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 2007.
The Court was asked to consider whether one can commit or be convicted of a second offence under the act when one hasn't been convicted of a first offence under the act.
Mr Geraghty was not convicted of the first offence and was on bail when he committed the second offence, the court heard. He absented himself from the jurisdiction in September 2004.
Having handed himself in to gardaí in 2009, he was arraigned on both charges on February 2, 2010, the court heard.
He pleaded guilty to both and would have received his conviction for both on the date of his arraignment, Ms Justice Mary Finlay-Geoghegan stated.
The net issue was whether one could be said to have committed a second offence under the act in circumstances where he hasn't been convicted of one, the court heard. Mr O'Loughlin said he didn't think the issue had been dealt with before.
Mr O'Loughlin submitted that his client could not have been convicted of a second offence unless he had been convicted of a first offence and both of Mr Geraghty's conviction's came together on the same day.
It was his submission that there had to be a previous conviction for either of Mr Geraghty's convictions and neither of them could be “taken as a second or subsequent offence”, as the act stated.
Mr O'Loughlin said there had been a lot of cases in recent years of people being convicted of “grow-house” cultivation offences and possession with intent to supply offences at the same time. “One wouldn't be included subsequent to the other,” Mr O'Loughlin said.
Counsel for the DPP, Roisín Lacey BL, said the Court of Appeal was dealing with two separate and distinct offences.
She said the value of the first offence was “extraordinarily high” and the second offence was “incredibly serious”.
Both times Mr Geraghty had been “caught red-handed”, she said, with over €4m worth of cannabis resin, “well over 3,000 slabs” in the first instance and €350,000 worth of cocaine in the second instance.
She said trial judge, Judge Martin Nolan was entitled to regard these matters as incredibly serious and he had to impose the mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in respect of the cocaine offence.
If the court accepted the interpretation as submitted by Mr O'Loughlin, Ms Lacey said any unscrupulous accused could go on a spree and manipulate the court lists to receive convictions on the same day.
Ms Lacey said she was not suggesting Mr Geraghty had done that in that instance but he had “deliberately absented himself from the jurisdiction” in 2004.
There were numerous questions from the bench on what was being submitted by counsel for both sides.
Ms Justice Mary Finlay-Geoghegan, who sat alongside Mr Justice Gerard Hogan and Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan said the court would reserve its judgment.
The appeal raised “an important question of construction,” she said.
