Three year prison sentence for Athlone man found with drugs

A forty-year-old businessman from Athlone, one Richard Case was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to being in possession of €21,000 worth of cocaine, cannabis resin and cannabis herb at a sitting of Mullingar District Court in Tullamore last week.The visibly upset former drug addict and father of one pleaded for another chance from Judge Anthony Walsh saying "I'll never appear before you again, your honour, or associate with people who do drugs".Garda John Walsh had told Judge Kennedy how on November 20, 2007, he had noticed a jeep parked with its lights on in a driveway at the Pass of Kilbride, while on his way from Rochfortbridge to collect his colleague in Kinnegad at 9.30pm. After picking up Garda Barry Rogers, he was returning to Rochfortbridge approximately 15 minutes later, and noticed the same jeep parked with its lights on.After questioning the man sitting in the vehicle, he learned he was Richard Case of 1, Arcadia, Athlone. Garda Walsh told the court how Mr. Case began to get agitated. After the garda proposed to search the vehicle under the Misuse of Drugs Act, Case handed over a small piece of cannabis and after further prompting gave him a third of a block of cannabis, wrapped in plastic and valued at €400.Mr. Case was cautioned and detained at Mullingar Garda Station, where his jeep was fully searched by Garda Ronan Loftus, who found a total of 28 egg shaped capsules of cocaine in an orange money bag underneath the driver's seat.A further search of Richard Case's person uncovered one and a half egg shaped capsules of cocaine which he had hidden in his underwear, €680 in cash, and also a small knife.During questioning, Richard Case admitted to Gardaí that he had taken payment in one and a half capsules of cocaine, worth €1,050, in return for dropping a package off in Athlone. He would not give the name of the person he received it from, or that of who it was destined for in Athlone, because he feared a "backlash" against his family.Garda Walsh asked Case if he was in much debt to which he replied "no". And when asked if he had a cocaine addiction, he answered "yes".Judge Kennedy heard how Mr. Case, who works partime and has access to his daughter every second weekend, had sought help for addiction, attending counsellors.Garda Walsh said he thought Richard Case did not pose any threat to society.Richard Case told Judge Kennedy "I've no excuse for what I've done other than my addiction, I was totally wrong". He went on to say that he has a twelve-year-old daughter who needs him and has her Confirmation coming up:"I'll never let her down again," said Mr. Case. "It's one of the biggest mistakes I've made in my entire life," continued Mr. Case, who told Judge Kennedy he had booked himself as in-patient to a clinic for one month, with out-patient follow-ups for two years, giving urine samples every week. He has also seen a consultant psychiatrist and says he is taking things "one day at a time"."I have a sponsor that I talk to regularly and people who help you through. I'll never appear before you again, your honour, or associate with people who do drugs," he added."Please, please Judge, I really don't know what to say to you Judge, I really need another chance, for my daughter and for my family," he begged.His defence, Mr Kenneth Fogarty, SC said the crime was "opportunistic" because Mr. Case was taking payment in cocaine instead of having to pay for it.He said it was one of the very rare instances where the judge had discretion to deal with it by not imposing the mandatory 10 year sentence. "The family circumstances speak for themselves and his daughter's Confirmation coming up. The fallout from the drugs trade is felt in all four corners but the people who are closest to those involved suffer the most," he said.In sentencing Mr. Case, Judge Kennedy noted that it was understandable that counsel would wish the case to be put within the "four corners of the McGinty case" in which a five-year suspended sentence had been handed down."It was found that on appeal against the leniency of that five-year suspended sentence was in fact too harsh and the judge lowered it again due to the extenuating circumstances. "But this is not McGinty and there are no such mitigating circumstances," said Judge Kennedy "Mr Case is to be given credit for the guilty plea and from that a conviction is inevitable. This is an open and shut case. He acted as a courier to feed his own habit and that he was to be given two months worth of cannabis for his own use. "Mr Case was 38 at the time he committed this crime and he is 40 now. I note that he has no previous convictions. He is now reformed from his addictions and we have heard that he did this 'cold turkey'."He was not a dealer in the sense that he had all the trappings of ill-gotten gains. The loss of €21,000 would not have been that great to the more sinister figures involved."There is the matter of character references that have been supplied and of his child's confirmation. Imprisonment can be very hard on the family, there can be no doubt of that, but unless the effects of it amount to an injustice, this cannot be a consideration."The maximum sentence for this offence is 10 years. In deciding a sentence I would take into account that €21,000 is modest in comparison." Given all the circumstances, Judge Kennedy imposed a sentence of three years on Mr. Case.