Woman 'took drugs rap for her father'

A Cork woman who "took the rap" after the Garda National Drugs Unit targeted her father near Dublin city centre has had her sentence…

A Cork woman who "took the rap" after the Garda National Drugs Unit targeted her father near Dublin city centre has had her sentence adjourned so that a probation report can be prepared.

Barrister Justin McQuade, defending, told Judge Frank O'Donnell: "She was a vulnerable, fragile girl acting under the nefarious influence of her father who manipulated her."

Niamh O'Sullivan (24), Bride Valley View, Fairhill, was "taking the rap" for her father, he added.

She pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday to having amphetamines valued at about €4,000 for supply in December 2004.

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Det Garda Jim McDermott agreed with Mr McQuade that her father, Mickey O'Sullivan, had been the main target of a Garda raid on the house in Ballybough Road, near the city centre, where the drugs were recovered.

The defendant's mother told Judge O'Donnell that Mr O'Sullivan was "no good as a father and was a bad influence in every way" on her daughter whom he manipulated a lot.

She said her daughter "cuts herself up" when she abuses alcohol but she had improved since moving back to live in Cork where she was under medical care.

Judge O'Donnell noted: "She seems to be putty in the hands of her father."

Mr McQuade asked that the court "stay its hand" at this time rather than imposing a custodial sentence.

Judge O'Donnell said that O'Sullivan's mother was "a very impressive lady".

He directed the preparation of a probation report and remanded her on continuing bail for sentence later.