Man jailed for having cannabis at home; defence said he had become confused about CBD oil and what cannabis was legal and what was not

A Mallow-based DJ who was 'raddled' from cannabis addiction was caught with €35,000 worth of the drug at his home and today he was jailed for four years.

43-year-old Gerald Sheehan of 43 Connolly Avenue, Mallow, County Cork, denied having drugs for sale at his home today and a jury was sworn in for a trial. 

However, after consulting with his senior counsel Alice Fawsitt for half an hour, Sheehan returned to court to be re-arraigned and he confessed to having more than €13,000 worth of cannabis for sale or supply.

In mitigation, he claimed that he was only supplying four or five adult friends. 

Ms Fawsitt said that the accused did not drink alcohol but that when he returned from a night working as a DJ he would smoke cannabis at home.

He had been smoking so long that he was both damaged by drugs and unable to go about rehabilitating, Judge Ó Seán Ó Donnabháin was told.

The judge noted from past convictions that he had seven for having drugs for his own use and two counts from 2016 for which he got a six-month suspended sentence at the local district court.

Judge Ó Donnabháin said that leniency had not worked, either for the defendant or for society and that a custodial sentence had to be imposed today.

Sergeant Micheál O’Regan testified that a warrant was obtained to search the home of the accused on September 8 2018. 

Several bags containing cannabis were found in the house. The total street value exceeded €35,000.

Ms Fawsitt said the drugs were not concealed and were easily found in various rooms around the house.

She said that in the defendant’s state of mind he had become confused about CBD oil and what cannabis was legal and what was not.

The senior counsel said that the defendant worked very hard as a DJ and had been making full tax returns over the years.

Ms Fawsitt said that since the matter had come to light the defendant and his family had been subjected to a certain amount of harassment.

Judge Ó Donnabháin said, “This is a somewhat sad case – a man at this hour of his life who is so committed to drugs he really does not know right from wrong. So addicted he cannot even offer himself for treatment. He is an almost total addict. This behaviour cannot be tolerated even from a man as raddled as he is from drugs.” 

The judge imposed a five-year sentence with the last year suspended at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.