Drugs courier escapes jail after 'dramatic turnaraound'

A TAXI driver who helped criminals distribute “vast amounts” of cocaine around Dublin has been ordered to carry out 240 hours…

A TAXI driver who helped criminals distribute “vast amounts” of cocaine around Dublin has been ordered to carry out 240 hours of community service in lieu of six years in jail.

Darrell Clarke (31) was caught in a Garda surveillance operation with cocaine and ecstasy worth almost €500,000, as well as drug paraphernalia and mixing agents.

Judge Katherine Delahunt said she was dealing with the case in a “highly unusual way” because of the “most dramatic turnaround” in Clarke’s life since the offence three years ago.

She noted that he is now committed to helping people with drug problems in his local community and is due to start an addiction studies degree at university.

READ MORE

The judge said this was one of the “very, very few” serious drugs cases where she encountered such a dramatic change in an accused person.

Clarke, of Whitestown Park, Blanchardstown, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to having possession of the drugs for sale or supply at various locations in the city on May 23rd, 2007.

Judge Delahunt said she considered it far more appropriate to let Clarke continue with his community work in lieu of jail time after hearing such “positive evidence” of his rehabilitation.

Det Garda Gary Proudfoot told Dominic McGinn, prosecuting, that gardaí acting on confidential information mounted a surveillance operation centred on Clarke’s movements.

He was observed entering two houses on Whitestown Drive and then driving off in his taxi.

Clarke was stopped by gardaí on the Blanchardstown Road, and cocaine with a street value of €31,913 was found under the passenger seat.

Det Garda Proudfoot said three houses on Whitestown Drive were searched and in one of them gardaí found cocaine with a street value of €441,588 and ecstasy in powder form with a street value of €6,500.

Det Garda Proudfoot said that mixing agents, weighing scales, and other drug paraphernalia such as a hydraulic compressor, which was used to press the mixed powder to look like pure cocaine, were found in the kitchen of the same house.

Clarke told gardaí he was paid between €4,000 and €5,000 for picking up, mixing and dropping off each batch of drugs and that he had been doing it for six to eight months.

He said he was not in charge and that he did not know who was involved.

Det Garda Proudfoot said Clarke, who has no previous convictions, was “involved in the distribution of vast amounts of cocaine around the Dublin area”.

Defence counsel Conor Devally said Clarke had run up a “drug debt” abusing cocaine and had gone to Australia to try and beat the habit, but on his return to Ireland he had become deeper embroiled with people in the drugs trade “who found him useful”.

He said Clarke feared for his family’s safety and had been given “a fairly decent hiding” at one stage.

He said that he had no trappings of wealth and had been spending the money on a “simple, ordinary life” for his family who were not aware of the extent of his difficulties.

Mr Devally had submitted that there was a “sea change” in Clarke since his arrest and that his client now wished to study social work in order to use his experience to benefit others who were in danger of falling into similar circumstances.