A man who held over €70,000 worth of heroin in order to pay off a €2,500 drug debt has been remanded in custody pending sentence next February.

Christopher McDonagh (30) told gardaí he had been holding the drugs for a week after being instructed to do so by his own dealer who had been supplying him with prescription drugs.

McDonagh of Parlickstown Avenue, Mulhuddart, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of 471.3 grammes of heroin, worth €70,695, at his home on February 24, 2013. He has 10 previous convictions.

Garda Anton Keating agreed with Ciaran O’Loughlin SC, defending, that McDonagh, although addicted to medication, had an anti-heroin stance at the time and has since tried to get his friends off the drug.

“He would have some job,” Gda Keating remarked but agreed that McDonagh’s only role was to mind the drugs and accepted that he would have been in fear of the man he owed the debt to.

Gda Keating told Garnet Orange SC, prosecuting, that gardaí were investigating the sale of cannabis in the area when they secured a warrant to search McDonagh’s home.

He indicated to gardaí that there were drugs in his bedroom after a small amount of cannabis was found in a front room. The heroin was later discovered in a biscuit tin on top of a wardrobe. Drug paraphernalia, including bagging, a knife and a tick list, was also found.

McDonagh took responsibility for the drugs and told gardaí he had agreed to mind them in order to pay off his own €2,500 debt.

He didn’t name the owner of the drugs but Gda Keating agreed that McDonagh would have been in genuine fear for his and his family’s safety.

Mr O’Loughlin told Judge Mary Ellen Ring that his client started taking drugs when he was 13 years old but never used heroin. His brother died from a heroin overdose shortly after their father passed away three years ago which led to McDonagh becoming addicted to prescription drugs.

Judge Ring revoked McDonagh’s bail and remanded him in custody pending sentence. She ordered a report from the Probation Service and urine analysis for that date.