A teenager who handed over heroin worth up to €400,000 to another man in the car park of the Red Cow Inn has been jailed for eight years.
Judge Desmond Hogan
Gregory Lynch (19) was arrested by gardaí after officers from the Garda National Drug Unit had him under surveillance at the entrance to the pub on the Naas Road.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard Lynch was observed placing a black holdall into the boot of a blue Nissan car and wait for a short while until a green Mazda pulled up near the entrance to the Red Cow.
Lynch, who was just 18 at the time, retrieved the bag from the boot of the car and beckoned the driver of the Mazda towards him. Both men were arrested after the accused handed over the bag to the other man.
Lynch, from Oliver Bond House, Dublin 8, pleaded guilty to the unlawful possession of heroin with a market value in excess of €13,000 euro for sale or supply on October 1st, 2003.
Judge Desmond Hogan suspended the last two years of the sentence because of Lynch's young age and because he only had two previous convictions for minor road traffic matters. However, he said it was an offence that, at the upper end of the scale, carried a sentence of life imprisonment.
"I should have regard to the amount of the drugs that was involved and to the value of the drugs but while he was a courier it was quite clear that he was a trusted part of this organisation, although the drugs were not his," he said.
"I do recognise that he did plead guilty at an early course and he is a person of very youthful years so I should exercise my discretion and not impose the mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years."
Judge Hogan suspended the balance of the sentence for seven years and requested that Lynch enter into a bond to be of good behaviour for a period of ten years upon his release.