TWO MEN convicted by a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury last month of possession of heroin and cocaine valued at over €20,000 have been jailed for 10 years each.
On their arrest Karl Rafferty (22) lunged at gardaí with a knife while Graham Dutton (21) threw drugs out of a window.
Rafferty and Dutton, both Greenfort Lawns, Clondalkin, were found guilty following a week-long trial of possession of the drugs for sale or supply at Rafferty’s home in October 2006.
Judge Frank O’Donnell said both men had fought the case “tooth and nail” and he found it difficult to distinguish between their roles. He accused Dutton of perjury because he claimed during the trial that gardaí had framed him by pushing him into the room where the drugs were.
“I don’t accept that,” Judge O’Donnell said. “You were far from a convincing witness when you got in the witness box and it now turns out you perjured yourself.” He heard Rafferty accepted the decision of the jury while Dutton still maintained his innocence. He jailed both men for the mandatory minimum of 10 years and told Rafferty, “you’re lucky it’s not a longer sentence.”
Garda Mark Rowntree told Gerardine Small, prosecuting, that gardaí came to search Rafferty’s home and found the men in a rear upstairs room. He said Rafferty had a knife in his hand and lunged at gardaí before being restrained.
Dutton was seen throwing bags out a window which, when retrieved by gardaí, contained heroin valued at approximately €4,000. Rafferty had drugs valued at about €18,000 and electric scales were also found.
Garda Rowntree said Dutton fled the scene after being brought downstairs but was arrested some days later. Rafferty denied during interview having any drugs and said the first time he saw them was in the Garda station. Dutton told gardaí he had nothing to do with the drugs and did not throw anything out the window.
Garda Rowntree said Dutton had one previous conviction for a public order offence and Rafferty had 19 previous convictions for road traffic offences, handling stolen goods and one for possession of drugs.
Garda Rowntree told Conor Devally, defending Rafferty, that it was not his belief that his client had ever been a drug user.
Mr Devally said although Rafferty had initially fought the case, he now accepted the jury’s decision. He had a “decent work record” but had began using drugs and started mixing with “a different class of person”. He said Rafferty started running up debts and was induced to hold drugs and later to divide them up.
Séamus O’Flanagan told Ms Iseult O’Malley SC, defending Dutton, that his daughter had become engaged to Dutton two weeks ago and he would be “proud” to have him as a son in law.
Ms O’Malley said Dutton maintained his innocence and urged Judge O’Donnell to differentiate between the quantity of drugs thrown out the window and those found on Rafferty. She said Dutton had a “decent work record”, and was in a stable relationship with no substance or alcohol addictions.