ON FEBRUARY 8 next, a pregnant mother of five must present herself to the authorities of Limerick Prison to begin a two-year sentence after gardai uncovered 12kg of amphetamines buried in her back garden in 2010. Garda, under the powers of a search warrant, called to the home of Rose Ryan (33) of Poultaloon, Fedamore on the evening of August 13, 2010 and having found a small quantity of drugs in the house, later discovered a large cache valued at almost €190,000 of amphetamines buried in a pink gear bag at the end of her garden.
Judge Carroll Moran, at Limerick Circuit Court last week, heard that Ms Ryan, who pleaded guilty to the possession charge, was a “facilitator for the storage of the drugs” that were concealed in 14 grey packets wrapped in black and white packaging.
Sgt Gearoid Thompson told the court that Ms Ryan, also known as Rosaleen Ryan O’Brien was not the owner of the drugs but a person trusted to store the drugs. He also added that a man believed to be the owner was now the subject of European Arrest Warrant and may have been a person to put a large degree of “emotional pressure on Ms Ryan to store them”. He added that Ms Ryan was not being paid to do so either/
The court heard that the drugs were found by a Garda sniffer dog who indicated the haul at a patch of freshly dug ground near a ditch on Ms Ryan’s property.
Judge Carroll Moran heard that Ms Ryan had no previous convictions and that the separated mother of five is in receipt of psychiatric care. He said that if vulnerable people, like Ms Ryan, are not punished for their involvement in illegal activity, then it paves the way for criminals to prey on the vulnerable for their own gain. This, he Judge said, was a cruel paradox.
Submission were made on behalf of Ms Ryan in mitigation and Judge Carroll Moran said that it was a very difficult and “exceptional” case to sentence.
The judge noted that Ms Ryan was very cooperative at all times and that she entered an early plea and that she did not own the drugs. However he did note the large amount of drugs and that the legislation had provided that a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years had been prescribed unless there were exceptional circumstances that would make it unjust to do so. This case, said Judge Moran, had those exceptional circumstances.
Taking into account the evidence before him, Judge Moran said that four years in prison was a suitable sentence but taking into account Ms Ryan’s personal circumstances, sentenced her to two years in prison and put a two-week stay on the committal warrant.
“I’m very sorry Ms Ryan, I don’t like this but I have to do my job”, concluded Judge Moran.
