A former model, Samantha Blandford Hutton, was found guilty yesterday of having cocaine for supply in a Dublin hotel room. She refused to comment following the verdict at Dublin District Court.
Hutton (31) claimed cocaine found in the room in Jury's Towers Hotel, Ballsbridge, on December 2nd, 1997, was for her personal use.
In the room under a sofa gardai found three tinfoil "wraps" of the drug with a purity of 0.4 per cent, a plastic bag with a small amount of cocaine in her handbag, and a list with names, dates, weights and amounts.
Yesterday Judge Murrough Connellan found her guilty of having the drug for sale or supply. He remanded her on continuing bail to March 6th when he will impose sentence after receiving a probation report.
The verdict came after a number of adjournments when her lawyer argued that the State had not proven a charge of possession of the drug for supply.
The case resumed yesterday with her barrister, Mr Alan Toal, quoting case law supporting his argument that Hutton could only be responsible for the drug found in her handbag as a number of other people were arrested along with her in the hotel room that night.
The case linking Hutton to anything other than the drug in her handbag was tenuous, he claimed.
Judge Connellan rejected his application to have his legal argument decided in the High Court by way of a consultative case stated.
A State solicitor, Mr Matthew Shaw, said Hutton had made a verbal admission, contained in a memo taken after her arrest, that she was responsible for the three "wraps" of cocaine.
The judge said he was satisfied there was enough evidence to convict on the more serious charge of possession for supply. Taken together, the drugs, the plastic bag of cocaine in her handbag and the list of names etc showed Hutton had the drug for sale or supply.
The court heard Hutton had a previous conviction for burglary dating back to September 20th, 1989, when she received a suspended sentence of 12 months.