Suspended sentence for man whose mother called garda about cannabis

A bioscience student whose mother phoned a garda when she found cannabis worth €19,000 in his wardrobe has received a three year suspended sentence.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Dayo Awosanya's mother called a garda she knew when she discovered herbal cannabis in a rucksack after noticing a smell.

Garda Alan Barry agreed with Richard Wixted BL, defending, that this was the first time he had heard of a drugs bust in such circumstances.

Judge Martin Nolan commended Awosanya's mother as a "woman of courage and principle" who did the right thing.

Awosanya (20) of The Boulevard, Bealing Village, Tyrrelstown, Dublin pleaded guilty to possessing the cannabis herb at his address on June 12th, 2017. He has no previous convictions.

Garda Barry told Diarmuid Collins BL, prosecuting, that Awosanya said he was holding the drugs for a friend and was to be given some money for the job.

Awosanya said he had thought the cannabis was worth about €1,000 and would not have become involved had he known its true value.

The student said he had been spending €50 a week on cannabis for personal use.

Garda Barry agreed with Mr Wixted that his client had been fully co-operative in interview and expressed remorse for getting himself into a “stupid mess”.

Mr Wixted sumitted to Judge Nolan that Awosanya had started using cannabis recreationally to deal with his mother’s cancer diagnosis around that time.

Counsel said his client had since stopped using cannabis and had broken away from his peer group.

Judge Nolan accepted that Awosanya probably had an obligation to third parties to hold the drug. He took into account Awosanya’s previous clean record, his early guilty plea, full co-operation and the fact he had good career prospects.

He suspended the sentence for three years.