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GARDAÍ RAIDED THE house of a drug dealing mother while her family and friends were staging an intervention for her about her lifestyle, a court has heard.
The woman who was caught dealing cannabis from her home avoided jail today after the court was told she has since “faced up to her addiction and her responsibility to her son”.
Debbie O’Reilly (35) formerly of Maple Avenue, Ballybrack, subsequently became homeless when the county council became aware of the offence. She and her 15-year-old son have since found permanent accommodation.
O’Reilly, who was addicted to the formerly legal drug PVP, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of cannabis herb for sale or supply at her then home on August 4, 2013. She has no previous convictions.
At a hearing last November the court heard that O’Reilly had been left devastated by what was described as “the tragic death” of her former partner and the father of her child in July 2013.
She was also having difficulties in her current relationship with a man known to gardaí.
She is no longer associated with this man and has moved out of the Ballybrack area.
Garda Ivor Scully agreed with Ronan Kennedy BL, defending, that when gardaí arrived to search O’Reilly’s home her family and friends were in the middle of “an intervention” with her as they had been concerned about her recent behaviour.
Gda Scully told Dara Hayes BL, prosecuting, that gardaí searched the house in Maple Avenue following a tip off that cannabis was being sold from the house.
O’Reilly made immediate admissions at the scene when the drugs were discovered.
O’Reilly co-operated fully with gardaí and took responsibility for the kilogramme of cannabis herb, worth €21,920. and 8 grams of PVP (a synthetic drug similar to cocaine), worth €312, that was found.
The drugs were found in a shopping bag in her shed, behind a kicker board in the kitchen and in her bedroom.
A total of €8,200 in cash, a digital weighing scales and an iPhone with evidence of drug dealing on it were also seized in the house.
Gda Scully agreed with Mr Kennedy that O’Reilly had been using PVP at the time and there would have been times when she wouldn’t have been particularly coherent.
He accepted she gave gardaí “a candid account of herself” and her offending, admitting that she had been giving out drugs to people. She had not been known to gardaí prior to that summer.
The garda agreed that O’Reilly is a lot better both mentally and physically since her arrest and is making efforts to get her life back on track. He said he was aware that she has been engaging in various services to address her addiction.
He agreed with a suggestion from Mr Kennedy that if O’Reilly, manages to address her addiction and stay away from her former associates, he is optimistic that she will not come to garda attention again.
Gda Scully said he believed her arrest and subsequent homelessness was “an extreme wake up call” and that she has begun “to learn the errors of her ways”.
Mr Kennedy said his client was aware that her behaviour supported others in the upper echelons of the drug dealing world and that she was “an essential cog in that wheel”.
“She can’t change what she done, but she has been given her life back and there are great signs for optimism going forward,” Mr Kennedy said.
Today Mr Kennedy handed several letters to the court detailing O’Reilly’s rehabilitation since the previous hearing, including letters from drug treatment programmes, a guidance counsellor, her son’s secondary school, and a certificate for completing a course in addiction studies.
Judge Mary Ellen Ring said O’Reilly was clearly a capable and intelligent young woman but for some reason started to abuse drugs before moving onto dealing.
Explaining that mitigating factors allowed her to set aside the minimum ten year sentence for serious drug offences, Judge Ring said Ms O’Reilly is “someone who has faced up to her addiction and her responsibility to her son and the greater community”.
Judge Ring suspended all five years of a five year jail term and directed O’Reilly to cooperate with probation services for twelve months.
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Why are comments opened on this and never on the Anglo stories or even cases happening in the US. Makes no sense.
@B9xiRspG: no one is charged
@B9xiRspG: it’s not before the courts
@Michael Geraghty: It’s a suitably broad section to cover any number of offences. Pathetic trolling attempt.
@Matt Connolly: sorry – meant for Phil below.
@B9xiRspG: Seriously Jim, why don’t you read up and the court system in Ireland and stop trying to derail every single comment section. It’s juvenile.
Where is Veronica to tell us men are the only ones attacking people
@Kal Ipers: Ah don’t do that. It’s really tacky.
@Kal Ipers: say her name 3 times and she will appear.
#FemaleViolence
#FeminineToxicity
@Unpersoned: It’ll never be as tacky as her misanderous ways
@Kal Ipers: you guys would seriously want to consider getting some lives and getting me off your mind.
@Kal Ipers: Also, I’m not sure if you can either read or count, but I’ve never said “men are the only ones attacking people”, I’ve consistently said that the vast majority of violent crimes are committed by men. Good grief, go back to school.
@Veronica: Perhaps their online interaction with you is the only time they get any attention from a woman, you’re keeping them warm at night. ;)
@Veronica: I’ve been trying to get you off my mind but I just can’t. I need you tonight, cos I’m not sleeping. There’s something about you girl, that makes me sweat. So slide over here and give me a moment ♡♡
@Lisa Saputo: :shudder:
@Kal Ipers: Kal, did you read the article because these women weren’t arrested for stabbing this poor boy?
To have a dig at someone, using a tactic of theirs that you disapprove of, is silly and counterproductive. Let’s build bridges lads and ladies. We’re all in this together whether we like it or not.
@Veronica: You have dismissed women committing violence and hid behind saying men are vastly more responsible. While doing this you ignore they are more likely to be the victim. You amuse me as an example of sexist person who is convinced they are correct by ignoring reality.
If you expressed these views in a paying job you would be rightly fired.
You are a terrible hypocrite who calls out people for not posting comments on other articles but don’t like it when done to you.
have your say