A MAN caught ferrying ecstasy worth almost £800,000 in a new car provided by a major drug dealer has been jailed for four years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
When the drugs were found, Philip Mulligan (35) said: "They aren't mine. I was paid to drive the ear, that's all," Garda Gerard Holland said.
Mulligan of Millbrook Avenue, Kilbarrack, pleaded guilty to possessing the drugs for supply at Santry, Dublin, on July 11th 1995.
Judge Cyril Kelly accepted Mulligan had cared for his wife since she was badly injured in a car crash in 1994.
He read from a medical report explaining that she had suffered broken limbs and ribs, was on a lifesupport machine for two months and had a clot removed from her brain after five months. Mulligan was constantly at her bedside and staff in the Mater Hospital developed great respect for his devotion to his wife.
A report from his GP also stated he was under great strain at the time of the offence due to his wife's illness.
Judge Kelly said she would miss her husband's devoted assistance but drugs also damaged lives and he had to be punished. A forfeiture order was granted for the car which had not been claimed since Mulligan's arrest.
Garda Holland told Ms Una Ni Raifeartaigh, prosecuting, he was" on mobile patrol with Garda Philip Burke when they saw a brown Metro car break a red light. He recognised Mulligan and asked him to pull over for a drug search.,
In the boot of the car, they found 40 bags containing 40,000 ecstasy tablets valued at £600,000 to £800,000. Mulligan had a previous conviction in 1981 for stealing a car.
Mr Hugh Hartnett, defending, said Mulligan took a car in 1981 "in an act of charity" to pull a trailer containing a sick and neglected horse to a vet.
Mr Hartnett said Mulligan gave up work to care for his wife who had been seriously disabled as a result of the accident.