Jobless dad turned to drug dealing to pay for daughter’s toy

A 26-YEAR-OLD Derby father turned to drug dealing because he could not afford to buy his young daughter a toy she wanted.

Derby Crown Court heard that Kuran Dulku’s two-year-old daughter told him she wanted the item when they were out shopping together.

But because he had lost his job he did not have the money.

So, to get some money while he looked for legitimate work, he turned to dealing cannabis.

When police pulled over a car he was driving Dulku, of Stenson Fields, was found to have plastic tubs of the class B drug in the centre console of the Audi. He also had a “dirty phone” containing messages telling customers he had cannabis on offer.

Handing him a 12-month community order, Judge Shaun Smith QC said to Dulku’s barrister, Sukhdev Garcha: “I have read references from his mother, father, someone at the temple and the Indian Community Centre, all of which are very impressive. “Why was he involved in this?” Mr Garcha replied: “He has always dabbled in cannabis, smoking it from his teenage years, he tells me.

“He was in work then lost his employment and has a young daughter aged two who he pays maintenance for. He tells me he had been out shopping and she wanted a toy and he could not afford it. He felt bad about that and a so-called friend said to him ‘why don’t you do this?’

“He realises he has lost his good character and that he has brought embarrassment and shame on his family.”

Dulku, of Tregony Way, and who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to supply a class B drug.

Judge Smith said: “You are, in every sense until now, somebody that is highly regarded by his community and his family. I know this has come as a shock to your parents that, for a period of about a week, you became involved in something like this. Fortunately for you, you were caught at an early stage.”

As part of his community order, Dulku was also ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.