A "hard working" tradesman who was caught with over €26,000 worth of drugs in his van after he filled the engine with too much diesel and was unable to pay for it, has been given a five year suspended sentence.
Gardaí came to the petrol station forecourt after Christopher O'Toole (39) had accidentally taken €100 worth of fuel instead of the €10 he had intended to buy.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard evidence last March that petrol station staff then called gardai. Garda Stephen Hughes told the court he noticed a trail of a white substance along the van's dashboard leading to the radio.
The garda pulled out the radio and found a large bag of white powder and a bar of cannabis resin. The powder was later found to be the controlled drug PVP.
When gardai tried to take the van away it wouldn’t start. They opened up the bonnet to jump start it and found another large package of PVP wrapped in a towel in the engine bay.
O'Toole of Castlegrange Avenue, Swords pleaded guilty to possession of over €13,000 worth of a controlled substance for sale or supply at Swords on June 4, 2012. The offence comes with a presumed mandatory minimum sentence of ten years.
Judge Mary Ellen Ring had adjourned sentencing until today after hearing evidence.
She said a probation report before the court addressed O’Toole’s “significant history” of addiction and noted that his attendance at a drug treatment centre was sporadic. She accepted that he has not come to garda attention in the last 12 months and has tested negative for drugs.
The judge suspended the entire five year sentence on condition that O’Toole keep the peace and be of good behaviour for four years and remain under Probation Supervision for 12 months.
Gda Hughes told Vincent Heneghan BL, prosecuting, that when he arrived at the forecourt O'Toole said he was waiting for a friend to come and pay for the excess diesel.
O'Toole said he had a fight with his girlfriend who was in an agitated and paranoid state. She told gardai she had taken the former head shop drug “Snow Blow”. This woman cannot be named as she is separately before the courts.
The court heard that the garda suspected O'Toole was a drug user. Gda Hughes saw a residue of white powder inside the van and began searching the van.
As well as the drugs hidden behind the radio and in the bonnet they also found PVP inside a black laptop bag in the driver's footwell. The total street value of the PVP found was €26,000 and the value of the cannabis was €1,476.
O'Toole has 31 previous conviction including one for drug dealing and six for possession of drugs.
Caroline Biggs SC, defending O'Toole, said: “Luck was not on his side that day”. Gda Hughes agreed that the accused could be described as a fool.
“He is a hard working man who is willing to work and just got mixed up in drugs,” the garda said, adding that he is a “jack of all trades” and has worked variously as a carpenter and builder.
Ms Biggs said her client owed a drug debt that had become too high and he was in fear. She said that he has since engaged with a drug treatment programme.
