A DUBLIN man has walked free from the Four Courts after a High Court judge quashed his conviction for having drugs for sale and supply.
Last November Alan Browne (30), Donomore Park, Tallaght, was jailed for four years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court by Judge Yvonne Murphy after he pleaded guilty to having €48,760 worth of cocaine and €18,375 worth of ephedrine tablets for sale or supply at his home in January 2011.
However, the Director of Public Prosecutions later said that Mr Browne should not have been sentenced, convicted or charged in respect of the ephedrine.
Ephedrine had not been a controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act since late 2009/early 2010.
Earlier last month the DPP initiated High Court proceedings, due to be heard later this year, to have his conviction and sentence quashed.
In light of the DPP’s action, Keith Spencer, for Mr Browne, argued on Wednesday that Mr Browne’s continued detention was unlawful. Ephedrine was not a controlled substance at the time of Mr Browne’s arrest, arraignment or sentencing, Mr Spencer added.
He was being held on foot of an order that was clearly bad, he said, arguing that his client should be released from custody immediately.
Yesterday Mr Justice Michael White, following an inquiry brought under article 40.4.2 of the Constitution on behalf of Mr Browne into the legality of his detention at Shelton Abbey open prison, Co Wicklow, ordered his release and quashed his conviction.
The case was remitted back to the Criminal Court, as the DPP intends to seek to have Mr Browne retried in respect of allegedly having cocaine for sale and supply only.
Mr Justice White made his ruling after lawyers for the Director of Public Prosecutions said it was seeking to bring forward its proceedings to have Mr Browne’s conviction annulled.
Previously in an affidavit to the court, the DPP said it was “a source of great regret” that Mr Browne had been charged and convicted in respect to the possession of ephedrine.
Because the drug was no longer a controlled substance, the DPP submitted that Judge Murphy technically exceeded her jurisdiction by imposing a conviction and taking into account the charges relating to the ephedrine.
The only way open to correct the matter was to seek to have the conviction quashed by way of judicial review and to remit the charge in relation to the cocaine only back to the Circuit Court, the DPP submitted.