Kinsale lifeboat rescue hero jailed for seven years on drugs charges
The coxswain of a RNLI lifeboat, honoured for his role in helping to rescue up to 30 people, including 23 trainees aboard a Tall Ship off Kinsale Harbour five years ago, was jailed for seven years on drugs charges.
Liam O'Connell from Presentation Terrace, Kinsale, Co Cork had stored €269,000 worth of cannabis, cocaine and ecstasy at his home.
He was sentenced to ten years in jail with the last three years suspended after he pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to charges of possessing cannabis, cocaine and MDMA or ecstasy for sale or supply at his home on October 27, 2017.
O'Connell played a heroic role when seven Belgian crew and 23 student trainees from France, Ireland, the Netherlands, UK and Spain were dramatically rescued after a Dutch-owned 42-metre Tall Ship Astrid ran aground after engine failure off Kinsale in July 2013.
Four RNLI stations tasked crews and air rescue was alerted in what had been one of the biggest sea rescues.
Defence counsel Siobhan Lankford SC said the accused was a valued member of the volunteer RNLI crew in Kinsale.
She presented, to the court, a testimonial where one character witness said that O’Connell was the man to call if somebody found themselves in trouble off the Old Head of Kinsale at 4am.
O’Connell had been the cox of the RNLI’s Kinsale lifeboat Ms Sally Anne Baggy and was later honoured with a West Cork Community Award for his role in the dramatic rescue.
Detective Sergeant Joanne O’Brien testified at Cork Circuit Criminal Court that members of the West Cork Divisional Drugs Squad received intelligence about O’Connell and searched his house on the day in question.
Detective Garda Colin O’Mahony found three bags hidden in a wardrobe in O’Connell’s bedroom.
The bags contained large amounts of cocaine, cannabis and MDMA with the total value of the cocaine amounting to over €154,000, the value of the cannabis amounting to over €57,000 and the value of the MDMA (ecstasy) amounting to over €56,000 giving a total value of €269,000.
Det Sgt O’Brien said that gardaí also found a ledger in the room which was being used as a tick-list for dealers that O’Connell was supplying.
He admitted previously collecting drugs in Dublin and bringing them to Kinsale where he stored them for distribution.
He was to be paid €6,700 for distributing and storing the seized drugs.
O'Connell had no previous convictions and had worked as a fisherman and in construction but was on social welfare at the time of the seizure.
Judge Sean Ó Donnabháin said O’Connell had exploited his status in the community where he was well respected because of his role as a volunteer member of the RNLI to trade in drugs as a distributor and storeman where drug dealers would call to his house for their supplies.
He said it was significant that O’Connell was not a drug user or drug addict himself and was in the drugs business to make a profit.
