Callan drug dealer jailed for two years

A man has been jailed for two years after he pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine for sale and supply to others and to possession of cannabis for personal use.

Lee Thornton, 41 Edmund Rice Park, Callan pleaded guilty to the offences which took place on dates in May 2020 and March 2021.

Garda John Moloney told the court that on May 7, 2020 he was on duty when a car the defendant was travelling in was stopped by gardaí for the purpose of a search under the Misuse of Drugs Act. Thornton told gardaí he had cocaine. He was arrested and searched at Kilkenny Garda Station and two bags of cocaine, with a value of €210 and €740 in cash was seized.

He was detained and interviewed and made full admissions. Thornton told gardaí that there were more drugs in another house in Callan and gardaí obtained a search warrant and searched that house and Thornton’s home address.

On May 8, 2020 gardaí entered the home of Lee Thornton and met his girlfriend at the time who had €2,130 in cash in her purse which the gardaí believed to be the proceeds of the sale and supply of drugs. Money bags were also found in his bedroom and a bag of compacted white powder believed to be cocaine, small bags with white powder residue, weighing scales and phones. Cocaine, worth €840, was seized.

The defendant was not working at the time and could not account for where the €2,130 came from.

Gardaí then went to the other address in Callan because of information they had been given by Thornton and a search was carried out and a bag containing white powder was handed owner.

The substance in the bag on analysis was cocaine with a value of €3,200.

A co-accused has also been sentenced in court in relation to the €3,200 worth of cocaine and was handed down a fully suspended sentence.

Garda Moloney said that during interview the defendant made full admissions. The court heard that at the time of these offences the defendant told gardaí that he owed €10,000 in a drugs debt.

Detective Garda Mary Keegan also gave evidence that on March 5, 2021 a search was carried out at the home of Lee Thornton. The search took place late at night and gardaí had to breach the door to gain entry. One male, now known to be Thornton fled through the back door.

A quantity of drugs, cannabis with a value of €202, was seized along with packaging with remnants of white powder, which was found to be cocaine on analysis. Weighing scales and other parapharnelia were also seized.

Thornton was subsequently arrested and interviewed. During the course of the interview he said that the cannabis was for his personal use. Gardaí also asked him about the cocaine and the drugs paraphernalia and the defendant answered that it was probably from the night before. Gloves were also taken from the scene and the defendant told gardaí that they were ‘normal gloves’.

A phone was seized as part of the investigation and gardaí retrieved messages from the phone’.

The defendant told gardaí that he was ‘forced to sell’.

“I got into a lot of debt because of my addiction. I was €32,000 in debt last year,” he said and added that at the time of the interview he still owed €5,000 in relation to drugs.

The court heard that the defendant has nine previous convictions under the Misuse of Drugs Act,

Speaking about the incident on March 5, 2021, Mr Downey BL said that his client was ‘frank about what was going on in the house’.

“He had an entrenched drug addiction going back a period of time. He has been in residential treatment on two separate occasions for six months in 2022 and for five months in 2023,”he said.

Mr Downey also told the court that in relation to the offences in May 2020 his client had given gardaí significant admissions against his own interest.

“He implicated himself further and proferred information about a larger quantity of drugs in another house,” he said.

A number of probation reports were handed into the court, one of which stated that the defendant ‘continues to struggle with addiction issues’.

A number of letters were also handed into the court on behalf of the defendant.

Judge John Martin told the court that ‘sentencing is not an act of vengeance, it is an act of justice and it must be proportionate to the offences’ before the court.

“Possession of drugs for sale and supply is a serious offence. Have had regards to the values involved I am of the view that the offending falls into the lower to mid range,” he said.

The judge also remarked that it was ‘told as if an excuse that he was up to his eyes in debt’.

“It might be an explanation but it is certainly not an excuse,” he said.

In mitigation the judge said that the defendant had co-operated fully with gardaí and had attempted to rehabilitate himself adding he would get credit for this.

In relation to the sale and supply charge dating to May 2020 the judge imposed a two year prison sentence. He imposed a further two year sentence in relation to the sale and supply of drugs on March 5, 2021 and said that the sentences would run consecutively.

The judge fully suspended the second sentence on condition that the defendant enter a bond to keep the peace for his time in custody and for the period of the suspended sentence and that he engage with the probation services