Appeal court upholds sentence in €1.6m heroin case 08/02/2010 - 19:07:33
The jail term handed down to a reformed drug addict for transporting €1.6m worth of heroin was not unduly lenient, the Court of Criminal Appeal ruled today.
John McGrane (aged 29), McKee Park, Blackhorse Avenue, Dublin was sentenced to eight years with 18 months suspended by the Dublin Circuit Court, after he pleaded guilty to possessing eight kilos of heroin for sale or supply at the Outer Ring Road in Clondalkin on October 1, 2007.
The father-of-two was caught carrying the drugs in the back of his van when it was stopped and searched as part of an investigation led by the Special Detective Unit.
McGrane was to be paid €400 for his part in the operation.
The DPP today appealed the leniency of the sentence imposed on the man, arguing the trial judge had failed to recognise the seriousness of the offence.
The court heard the amount of drugs recovered was 125 times that which attracts the mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.
In dismissing the State’s application, the three Judge CCA of Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan presiding, sitting with Mr Justice Budd and Mr Justice O’Keeffe today said it agreed the sentence was an “extremely light one”.
But the court held the term could not be considered unduly lenient, given all the circumstances of the case.
