Corkman who had drugs in home worth almost €48,000 has sentencing adjourned for a year
The cash and drugs were found in a search under warrant at the defendant’s home in Cobh on May 4, 2022.
Gardaí seized €47,700 worth of cannabis and over €8,000 in cash in the search of a house in Cobh and now the man responsible for the stash has had sentencing in his case adjourned for a year.
Patrick Roche, aged 20, of 15 East Hill, Cobh, Co Cork, signed a plea of guilty to a charge of having drugs for sale or supply at a time when its street value exceeded €13,000.
This is the threshold figure for a minimum sentence of ten years unless there are exceptional circumstances.
He also faces sentencing for a money-laundering charge in respect of cash of over €8,000 — the proceeds of criminal activity.
The cash and drugs were found in a search under warrant at the defendant’s home in Cobh on May 4, 2022.
Now, two years later, Judge Helen Boyle said she would adjourn sentencing for one year.
Judge Boyle said: “He was a young person when he was involved in this. He was fully cooperative with gardaí. The probation service says you are unlikely to have been involved in this. People speak highly of you. But you did get involved in selling drugs. You brought danger to yourself and your family who had to pay off the debt you accrued.
“The probation service deems you to be at low risk of reoffending. You had just turned 18 at the time that this happened.”
The judge said she would put back the sentence for one year for supervised urinalysis.
“If you stay out of trouble we will see what the sentence will be in one year. You were involved in the drug trade but now you are in a low category in terms of risk of reoffending,” Judge Boyle said.
