Teen who sold heroin to undercover garda remanded

The boy (17) had pleaded guilty to possessing five “deals” of heroin, worth €75, for sale or supply to another, at Essex Quay, in Dublin, on November 20 last year. He had been arrested as part of a sting where one Garda posed as a buyer while another moved in when the teen offered to sell the drugs.

In October he had been remanded to appear again yesterday (MON) for a pre-sentence probation report to be furnished to the court.

However, Judge Ann Ryan said she noted that the teenager had not attended his appointments with the Probation Service. She said the boy had “wasted their time” when they had been trying to help them.

She agreed to adjourn sentencing the boy, who was accompanied to court by his mother, until next month to allow him a final opportunity to engage with the Probation Service.

She warned him that through his offence he “was ruining other people’s lives” and would receive a sentence if he did not start to co-operate. She also told him it was up to him whether he wanted either to accept help or “spend his life in custody.”

Detective Garda Ronan Kelly had said the boy “approached a plain-clothes Garda on Essex Quay and offered him a deal of heroin.”

“I approached the accused who dropped four more deals of heroin on the ground.”

The south Dublin boy had nine previous convictions mostly for motoring, criminal damage and Public Order Act offences. He was released from another custodial sentence five weeks ago.

At the time of his arrest he had developed a cocaine addiction and was “selling heroin to provide for his own problem,” the court had heard.

While he was detained he quit drugs and took part in educational courses.