Fully suspended sentence for €500k drugs and cash haul was 'too lenient', appeal court finds

The fully suspended sentence handed down to a higher scale drug dealer who was caught with over €500,000 in cocaine, cannabis and cash was too lenient, the Court of Appeal has ruled as it sent him to jail today.

In imposing the three-year sentence today, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said that Mark Harris (29) “must have been up the scale” of drug dealing, as the gardaí found considerable quantities of controlled drugs in his home, including cocaine worth €57,197, cannabis resin worth €211,974, and cannabis herb worth €218,220, making a total value of €487,391.

Harris (29) of Clongorey, Newbridge, originally received a sentence of four years and six months after pleading guilty (GUILTY) to having drugs for sale or supply contrary to section 15a of the Misuse of Drugs Act, and two years and six months for money laundering, with these sentences suspended by Judge Dara Hayes at Naas Courthouse on 23 October 2023. The offences occurred at Harris’ home on June 23, 2021.

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Conditions of the suspended sentences were that he was to enter into his own bond of €100 to be of good behaviour for four years and six months, remain under probation supervision for 12 months, engage in treatment and counselling, and pay €5,000 to a local charity.

At the Court of Appeal today, John Moher BL, counsel for the DPP, submitted that the judge erred in suspending the entirety of the sentence, as the facts of the case did not fall into the exceptional circumstances for a fully suspended sentence.

Kathleen Leader SC, for the respondent, said that at the time he was arrested in 2021, Harris was out of work and addicted to cannabis, as well as experiencing significant mental health difficulties. She said that he had since completed rehabilitation to become a prosocial member of society with a job, had given money to charity as directed, and was now a good father who supported his family.

Mr Justice McCarthy said that besides the drugs seized, the respondent had also been caught with the paraphernalia of drug dealing, while Mr Justice John Edwards said that, at half a million euro of drugs, this was not small scale. Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy pointed out that he also had €22,000 in cash, which were the proceeds of dealing in drugs, adding that this surely was an aggravating factor.

"He must have been up the scale, as he was trusted to run this operation,” said Mr Justice McCarthy.

In delivering the Court of Appeal's ruling, Mr Justice McCarthy said that in garda interviews, the respondent made extensive admissions, telling gardaí that he had run up a debt through his own drug use of €10,000.

Mr Justice McCarthy said that the sentencing judge had made an error in principle by fully suspending the sentence, as this case did not come within the exceptional circumstances needed for such a suspension.

Quashing the original sentence and moving on to resentencing, Mr Justice McCarthy said the sentencing judge was right to have imposed a sentence of four and a half years, but it was the court’s opinion that the mitigating factors did not bring it into the scope of a wholly suspended sentence.

Taking the view that four and a half years was an appropriate sentence, Mr Justice McCarthy said that the court would suspend the final one and a half years on the same conditions as set in the Circuit Court.

Mr Justice Edwards added that the court also found the suspension of the second sentence unduly lenient, so it was quashing that sentence and taking the money laundering charge into consideration.