Man 'who should have known better' caught with €59k of drugs
A third-level graduate and An Post employee “who should have known better” was caught in an operation going to a hiding place in a woodland where €59,000 worth of drugs were buried.
Gardaí who had surveillance operation in place came out of their hiding positions when Marc Morrison, of 87 Riverfield Estate, Midleton, Co Cork, arrived to recover the stash at Curragh Woods in Carrigtwohill.
Detective Gardaí Mark Byrne and Paul Leahy arrested Morrison at the scene on May 25, 2017, and yesterday Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin imposed a five-year jail term with the last three years suspended.
The accused pleaded guilty to having the MDMA — ecstasy tablets — for the purpose of sale or supply and he was remanded in custody from November until yesterday. Judge Ó Donnabháin imposed the overall sentence of two years backdated to November 2018 to take account of the time spent in custody by the accused already.
The background to the case was that an unidentified person walking in the woods discovered the buried stash of tablets in a plastic container and notified gardaí who set up the surveillance.
Ray Boland, defending, said the time spent in prison to date had been a salutary experience for the accused. Mr Boland said Morrison had two college degrees and should have known better.
“He got involved in recreational cocaine use and it got out of hand,” said Mr Boland. “He is now 28 and is well aware where this kind of offending leads. He comes from a very supportive family. Although it is a large quantity, I would urge you to suspend the balance of the sentence from today.”
Judge Ó Donnabháin said he could not do that and imposed the five years, three of which were suspended. He said an aggravating factor was that the man engaged in this crime when he was in full and gainful employment.
