A TAXI driver found with drugs worth over €110,000 has been jailed for seven years by Judge Frank O’Donnell at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Stephen Ryan (39), Lentisk Lawn, Donaghmede, Dublin, pleaded guilty to having cannabis worth €70,000 and amphetamines worth €41,127 for sale or supply on the Malahide Road, Coolock, on March 8th, 2006.
Judge O’Donnell said he had great sympathy with Ryan’s mother who, he said, had written a letter to the court which differed from “the tearful” correspondence he got from other parents anticipating their child’s fate.
Judge O’Donnell said this letter set out a factual account of Ryan’s life, how she had financially assisted him and his brother to set up a taxi business and how they had worked “night and day” to pay her back but that when the industry was deregulated in 2000, it undermined the €70,000 investment. Judge O’Donnell said taking into account his guilty plea and his lack of previous convictions, it would be “unjust” to impose the presumptive mandatory 10 years’ sentence.