A MAN who called gardaí to the house where he was tending cannabis plants with a street value of €21,600 due to “difficulties with his employer” has been given a one-year sentence.
Jakub Nalecz (30), no fixed abode, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to cultivating cannabis at Boroimhe Beech, Swords on December 29th, 2011. He has no previous convictions.
Judge Martin Nolan said it seemed the motivation for calling gardaí to the house was that he had “difficulties with his employer” and had decided to “wreak vengeance for the way he was treated”. The judge imposed a one-year sentence, backdated to the date of the offence, when Nalecz went into custody.
Garda Leonard Clarke told Fiona McGowan, prosecuting, that gardaí had received a call from Nalecz saying he was being assaulted.
When they arrived at the house Nalecz invited them upstairs and said he wanted to show them something. Garda Clarke said there were ventilation tubes going into two bedrooms. In one there was a large tent with 30 mature cannabis plants growing under lighting and heating rigs. In the other bedroom, there was a similar setup, with 24 plants at sprouting stage.
Nalecz told gardaí, after he and a second man at the house were arrested, that he had been looking after the plants and the other man was the organiser and financier of the operation.
He had initially been living in the house with a number of other people but when they moved out he said his co-accused had the idea of setting up this operation.
Nalecz told gardaí he had been threatened and forced into his situation. He was to be paid €2.50 for each gramme of cannabis from the plants.
Garda Clarke agreed with Seán Gillane SC, defending, that Nalecz had some mental health difficulties, was a cannabis user and said bizarre things during interview.
Mr Gillane said Nalecz, originally from Poland, had been in Ireland for about seven years. Before this offence he had maintained steady work. He said Nalecz had wanted to bring to an end his involvement in this situation and took the unusual step of bringing gardaí to the house.
He added that Nalecz was being treated for psychosis.