Daniel O’Donnell ‘superfan’ has her prison sentence for role in cocaine factory halved
A DANIEL O’Donnell ‘superfan’ has had her prison sentence for her role in a cocaine “factory” halved by the Court of Appeal.
Molly Sloyan (26), from Kinsale, Co Cork, made headlines of a more innocent nature previously when her reaction to a Daniel O’Donnell impersonator on ‘The Late Late Show’ went viral.
Last year, she was one of four people who pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to possession of cocaine for sale or supply at Seascape, Dromleigh, in Bantry, on November 26, 2017.
The value of the high-purity cocaine was estimated to be
€70,000.
Sentencing her to 10 years’ imprisonment with the final three suspended, Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said the group had been involved in a sophisticated system of extracting cocaine from fabric material imported from Brazil. It was in effect a “factory”, he said.
Sloyan had admitted renting a house on Airbnb, hiring a car and buying the chemicals used in the extraction of the cocaine from the fabrics.
Judge Ó Donnabháin said she gave significant help to the group and “to say she was the girlfriend (of one of the co-accused) does not do justice to the criminality involved”.
She successfully appealed against the severity of her sentence in July, with the Court of Appeal holding the 10-year headline tariff was “simply too high”.
Giving reasons for the court’s decision yesterday, Mr Justice John Edwards said Sloyan was not the “mastermind”.
He said the 10-year headline sentence was “excessive” and should have been seven years. This was reduced by two years to reflect the mitigating factors. The Court of Appeal also suspended the final 18 months brining the sentence to threeand-a-half years.
He said Sloyan would have to fully cooperate with the probation service for two years.