Suspended term for growing cannabis worth €78,400

A 54-year-old man who cultivated cannabis plants with a street value of €78,400 has been given a two-year suspended prison sentence.

Raymond Richardson, of Mayglass, Ballycogley, pleaded guilty before Judge Cormac Quinn at Wexford Circuit Criminal Court to the cultivation of cannabis plants at 43 Mayglass, Ballycogley, on December 8, 2015.

He also pleaded guilty to the possession of cannabis on the same occasion for the purpose of sale or supply.

Garda Ian Doyle told the court that as the result of intelligence a bench warrant was obtained for the defendant’s premises. In the search of the house, 146 cannabis plants were located inside the property with an estimated value of €78,400.

He said that the premises was unoccupied at the time the warrant was executed. There was considerable electrical power usage at the premises where the defendant had started growing cannabis for sale or supply some eighteen months earlier.

Garda Doyle said that later they were informed the defendant was in a pub in Kilmore village. Richardson was arrested and brought to Wexford Garda Station where, during an interview, he made a full admission and took full responsibility for the cannabis.

The court was told that the defendant is unemployed, and currently living with his father at that address. He had one previous conviction.

Philip Sheahan, for the Defence, said the defendant co-operated fully with the investigation when arrested and interviewed. He said that his client committed the offence to pay off debts accrued by himself and his brother. He noted that the Probation Report presented the defendant as being of low risk of reoffending, a man who lives with his elderly father who is 90 years of age and present in court.

Mr Sheahan said Richardson, a native of Dublin, had been married but separated after four years, and had one son. He had taken the wrong decision, but was under financial pressure at the time.

Describing the cultivation of cannabis as a serious offence, Judge Quinn said he would have to take into account the value of the drugs and that the defendant was growing cannabis for profit. He took into account the fact that the defendant looks after his elderly father who is unwell.

Judge Quinn sentenced Richardson to two years in prison on each of the charges, to run concurrently, but suspended the sentence in its entirety on the defendant entering into a bond of €200 to keep the peace for two years.