A PIRATE radio station DJ who was caught with a bag full of guns and ammunition has received a three-year suspended sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Derek Mulligan (38), Sunnyhill, Castlemartin Lodge, Kilcullen, Co Kildare, told gardaí he had agreed to hold the sportsbag containing a pistol and silencer, a signal flare gun, a blank-firing pistol and an assortment of ammunition for a man he met at Blanchardstown Shopping Centre about a fortnight before the raid on his pirate radio station.
Garda Barry Hayes said colleagues with a search warrant forced entry to the premises and found Mulligan, who has no previous convictions, alone in a room with the bag of guns.
Mulligan, a father of one, pleaded guilty to possessing an Orian 12-gauge flare gun, a semi-automatic pistol and silencer, a Umarex Derringer 6mm calibre blank firing pistol and 49.380 calibre rounds of ammunition at the radio station at Dolphin Road, Dolphin’s Barn, on October 21st, 2009.
He also pleaded guilty to possession of 400 BZP (benzylpiperazine) tablets at the same place and date.
Judge Yvonne Murphy accepted the drugs possession was a less serious part of the case when Paul Carroll, defending, submitted to her that BZP had been available legally at headshops until its ban a number of months before the raid.
Garda Hayes told Anne Rowland, prosecuting, that colleagues found the firearms and ammunition wrapped individually in socks in the holdall bag.
A Garda ballistics expert had found the weapons were in good working condition.
Garda Hayes told Ms Rowland that Mulligan had explained that the premises had been rented by him and other DJs who were running the station part time. He had been holding the bag for someone he met at the shopping centre and this person had given him €300. He denied knowing the bag’s contents.
Mulligan said he had bought the drugs himself but had mislaid them until gardaí found them in a rucksack at the premises.
Garda Hayes said colleagues also seized €1,800 belonging to Mulligan under a desk. He agreed with Mr Carroll that his client was co-operative and told gardaí at the scene he had had the sportsbag for two weeks.
The garda accepted Mulligan’s explanation for acquiring the bag and agreed he had been a “gilly” in the enterprise. He agreed Mulligan had not come to Garda attention since, had no assets and had rented the premises for the pirate radio station by pooling €50 a week with other DJs.
Mr Carroll submitted to Judge Murphy that his client had assisted gardaí at the scene and in his interviews.
Judge Murphy accepted this and noted Mulligan’s involvement in the music business had brought him into contact with drugs.
She said she was satisfied the crime was “out of character” for Mulligan, who she thought deserved a chance, considering it was his first offence.
She suspended the full sentence for three years.