THE DIRECTOR of Public Prosecutions has asked the High Court to quash the conviction and four-year prison sentence imposed on a Dublin man who pleaded guilty to having drugs for sale and supply.
The DPP said Alan Browne, who was jailed at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last November after admitting having cocaine and ephedrine for sale, should not have been convicted or charged over the ephedrine.
Ephedrine was not a controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act since late 2009/early 2010, this change was confirmed to all legal staff at the DPP’s office in October 2011 and the charges relating to ephedrine against Browne should not have been included on the indictment, the DPP said.
The court heard Judge Yvonne Murphy sentenced Browne, a former postman of Donomore Park, Tallaght, who is detained in Mountjoy Prison, after he pleaded guilty to having €48,760 worth of cocaine and €18,375 worth of ephedrine tablets for sale or supply at his home on January 28th, 2011.
In an affidavit, Niall MacGinty, a legal officer with the DPP, said it was “a source of great regret” to the DPP that the removal of ephedrine as a controlled substance was not averted to by the DPP in the prosecution of Browne.
The DPP is seeking orders aimed at quashing Browne’s convictions and sentence and remitting him for trial before Dublin Circuit Court on the cocaine charge.
Browne is a notice party to the High Court action.
Seeking leave ex parte (one side only represented) to bring the case, James Dwyer SC, for the DPP, said, because the drug was no longer a controlled substance, the presiding judge technically exceeded her jurisdiction by imposing a conviction and taking into account the charges relating to the ephedrine.
The only avenue open to the DPP to have Browne’s conviction quashed was by way of judicial review, counsel said.
Should the conviction be quashed, the DPP intended to restart its prosecution of Browne in respect of the alleged possession of cocaine.
Mr Justice Michael Peart granted leave to bring the proceedings and returned the matter to July.
Browne had told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court he agreed to store and distribute the drugs after receiving “sinister” phone calls.
After his arrest, he had to move his wife and children out of the family home because of threats, including a viable pipe bomb, being left outside the house, he said.