A FORMER CHEF who approached a plainclothes garda and tried to sell him €2,000 worth of heroin has been given 240 hours of community service.
Darren Trimble (35) of Nicholas Street, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of heroin for sale or supply at Heuston Station on 4 April 2013.
On 28 March 2013, Garda David Naughton was on plain clothes duty at Fatima Luas Stop when he spotted two people acting suspiciously beside an electricity supply unit.
As the garda walked towards the pair, Trimble stopped him and started chatting. Soon after Trimble asked him if he was looking to score heroin, saying he could get him any amount he wanted.
Trimble then walked with Garda Naughton towards Ruben Street and arranged to meet days later at Heuston Station.
At the train station Garda Naughton met with Trimble who took the drugs, which were later valued at over €3,000, from his tracksuit bottoms. Trimble admitted that the heroin was his and he was trying to sell it but did not plead guilty until the value was revised downwards to €2,083.
Defence counsel, Luigi Rea BL, said that Trimble was a qualified chef with two daughters but had lost his career when he began using heroin in his mid twenties.
Mr Rea said Trimble was well liked in the area he grew up and had attended Greendale Community School where he was taught by author Roddy Doyle. Mr Rea handed in a drug test which showed Trimble is clean of opiates and told the court that whatever Trimble’s own intentions, his long term partner was adamant that he would not use heroin again.
Judge Desmond Hogan sentenced Trimble to 240 hours community service in lieu of a two year prison sentence. Judge Hogan said he regarded Trimble as the ‘lowest rung of the ladder’ when it came to such offences. He also said that while the valuation was revised by an analyst, it was still a significant amount of drugs.
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