This article is from page 3 of the 2005-09-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
AN ENNIS drug dealer who was found in possession of cannabis resin with intent to sell or supply, has been handed a four-month jail sentence and fined €1,250.
But the jail term imposed on Don- agh Malone (38), of Clare Road, Ennis, was substituted for 240 hours community service.
Sergeant John Brennan told Ennis District Court yesterday that can- nabis resin with a street value of
€324 – enough to make 454 hand rolled cigarettes – was found at the accused man’s home on September 30 last year. An electronic weighing scales and €140 in cash were also recovered.
The following month, on October 28, cannabis resin with a street value of €47 – enough to make 66 hand- rolled cigarettes – was recovered at the home of the accused man’s partner. Cash totalling €3,980 was recovered in a jam jar hidden in a ditch and €7,000 was recovered in
a hot-press.
Malone had been supplied the drug by a friend and when he moved away, he started to supply it himself, initially to a small circle of friends, before that circle grew.
He “put his hands up” and admit- ted to gardai that he had been sell- ing cannabis resin, the court heard.
“He is older than your average person consuming cannabis resin around here,” said Sgt Brennan.
Defending solicitor Tara Godfrey
said her client, a father-of-two, was collecting money from work he was doing as a landscape gardener and chef, and was putting it towards renovating the house. She said the €7,000 was “nothing to do with the proceeds of cannabis resin,” and was earmarked for renovating his jteyesten
Sgt Brennan admitted that some of the money might not have been part of the proceeds of selling can- nabis resin. “What we recovered wasn’t substantial, but we are sat-
isfied he was dealing in cannabis,’ said Sgt Brennan.
Malone pleaded guilty to posses- sion of cannabis resin and posses- sion for sale or supply.
Judge Joseph Mangan imposed a four month jail sentence for the of- fence at Clare Road in September, substituting it with community serv- ice. He imposed a fine of €1,250 for the offence in October. He ad- journed the case for four months, to allow for a community service report to be carried out.