A drug mule caught with a €20,000 cannabis cargo in Donegal has been spared time behind bars.
Father-of-four Anthony Foley told Judge John Aylmer at Letterkenny Circuit Court that he didn’t want his children to have to visit him in prison.
Foley, a 38-year-old, was handed an 18-month suspended sentence when he appeared before Letterkenny Circuit Court this week.
Foley was charged with unlawfully possessing cannabis for sale or supply at Castleforward Demesne, Newtowncunningham on September 2, 2021.
Garda Michael Rafferty told Ms Fiona Crawford BL, prosecuting, that he was on patrol around 1.30pm on the day in question when he noticed a blue BMW driving erratically on the road between Bridgend and Burt.
The BMW was tailgating another vehicle and a different vehicle had to ‘veer off’ to avoid a collision.
Gardai stopped the vehicle and Foley was in the passenger seat. Another male was driving and there was a rear seat passenger, a female.
The car was searched under the Misuse of Drugs Act and a black bag was located in the footwell where Foley was sitting.
Garda Rafferty detected a strong smell of cannabis and Foley admitted ownership. Inside the bag was a white box containing a green substance wrapped in black plastic.
The substance was sent to Forensic Science Ireland, who confirmed that it was 1,007.1 grams of cannabis, valued at €20,142.
Foley, from Primrose Park in Sion Mills, told gardai that he collected the package in Derry. His phone was seized and he informed officers that he was getting ‘a couple of hundred euro’ for the run.
He said he got a call that morning at 11.30am asking if he could do a favour and he agreed.
“It was stupid,” Foley admitted to gardai at the time.
He said it was the first time he had done something like this and the person who contacted him promised ‘you’ll get a lot of coin out of it’.
When interviewed at Buncrana Garda Station, Foley told gardai that he only realised the bag contained cannabis when the box was opened.
Foley admitted to smoking cannabis, but insisted to gardai that he was not a drug dealer.
Foley was put into the witness box by his barrister, Mr Colm Smyth SC.
Foley said he was sorry for the shame he had brought on his children and the rest of his family.
The defendant told the court that he went straight to a drug and alcohol unit, Woodlea House, after the incident ‘and got myself clean’ while undergoing a four-month residential treatment.
“I got my head straight,” Foley told Judge Aylmer. “I never want to put my children through this any more. I don’t want them to have to come visit me in prison.”
After his arrest, Foley spent almost two weeks in prison until his partner was able to source bail money, which she obtained via a loan from the Credit Union.
Mr Smyth asked if the prison experience was pleasant and Foley replied: “Naw, it definitely wasn’t.”
He said he now keeps a “very small circle” and has “zero involvement” with people engaged in the drugs trade.
Foley told the court that he is in a new relationship and has a one-year-old baby. He pleaded with Judge Aylmer to be as lenient as he could.
Addressing the court, Mr Smyth said Foley was acting as a mule and said his client was addicted to cannabis at the time. He said Foley cooperated fully with the investigation and has not come to adverse garda attention since.
References from Foley’s sister and also a friend were handed into the court.
Foley is living in Sion Mills and has been working for a year-and-a-half as a joiner in Belfast.
Judge Aylmer said that, given the Gardai’s acceptance that Foley’s role was one of a mule and that he was ‘carrying for others for a small reward’, that the offence was on the lower end of the scale and merited a starting point of two years imprisonment.
In mitigation, Judge Aylmer said Foley was fully cooperative and has not come to adverse attention since.
“It is clear that he is genuinely remorseful and ashamed and is particularly conscious of the shame he brought on his extended family,” Judge Aylmer said, adding that it was to his credit that Foley engaged in rehabilitation and been in steady employment.
Judge Aylmer said he also had to take into account that Foley spent some time in prison on remand while awaiting bail.
“This appears to have been a very salutary experience and it appears that he may have learned his lesson,” Judge Aylmer said.
Foley was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment with the entirety of the sentence suspended for 18 months on his entering a bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour.
A destruction order was made in relation to the drugs.