Heroin addict sentenced to two years for possession

A heroin addict who was caught by gardai in a Ballymun "squat" with £500 worth of the drug has been given two years detention…

A heroin addict who was caught by gardai in a Ballymun "squat" with £500 worth of the drug has been given two years detention by Judge Kevin Haugh.

Garda Denise Paul said Sean Kinsella told gardai he would buy batches of heroin to "smoke my brains out".

Ms Marie Torrens, defending, told the court Kinsella became involved in the drugs scene when only 13 years old due to low self-esteem as a result of abuse from his father.

Kinsella (19), from Silloge Avenue, Ballymun, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to a single charge of possessing heroin for sale and supply.

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Garda Paul told Ms Melanie Greally, prosecuting, that seven occupants including Kinsella were using the house at Ballymun for a squat. Kinsella had 24 small bags of heroin valued at £480 and immediately admitted he intended to sell them to make £180 profit.

Garda Paul said at the time Kinsella was smoking five to eight small bags of heroin daily. He was currently serving an 11-month sentence imposed in the District Court last Friday.

Ms Torrens said Kinsella got involved in "the wrong crowd". In a statement he admitted he would buy a half-batch, smoke the whole lot and then get another batch until "I would smoke my brains out." She asked Judge Haugh to consider that he had been incarcerated and sent from one institution to another since the age of 15.