'He is a victim of his own addiction' - Man caught with €3.5k of heroin gets 18 months
Gardaí caught a man with €3,500 worth of heroin at his home in Cork city and today he was jailed for 18 months.
Robert Lennon was sentenced by Judge Brian O’Callaghan to four years with the last two-and-a-half years suspended at Cork Circuit Criminal Court, where he pleaded guilty to a charge of having heroin for sale or supply to others at his home at 60 Upper John Street, Cork.
Detective Sergeant Kieran O’Sullivan said Lennon, 37, had been a drug addict for the past 17 years but was unusual in committing no other offences except drug dealing in order to pay for his drugs and not resorting to theft or any other crimes to pay for them.
The detective said the accused had made a lot of money from selling drugs but had none of the trappings of wealth in terms of his home or even his clothing and he did not have a car.
“He is involved in drugs as long as I have known him. He does not do thefts to pay for his drugs habit," Detective Sergeant O’Sullivan said.
“He has always been sociable with gardaí. He is a man who is easy to deal with. He does not give the guards any trouble whatsoever."
“He has not been in custody for nearly three years,” the detective sergeant said.
Mr Lennon was convicted eight times for having drugs for his own use and twice before for drug-dealing – all of which were dealt with at district court level.
Defence barrister, Sinead Behan said the accused had engaged recently with Arbour House in dealing with his addiction difficulty.
Ms Behan said: “He is a victim of his own addiction.”
Judge O’Callaghan said: “Unfortunately, there are other victims as well. That is the problem. He is creating other drug users.”
Ms Behan accepted this was so but said in respect of Lennon: “He is a pity in some respects.”
Imposing sentence on Lennon, Judge O’Callaghan said: “The court fully accepts his involvement in the criminality of dealing is 100% motivated by feeding his habit."
