Mother of three jailed for four years over pink bag of heroin and crack cocaine

A mother of three who was observed passing a pink bag containing drugs worth around €470,000 over a railing has been jailed for four years.

Crystal Coady (26) of Bluebell Road, Bluebell, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of drugs for sale or supply at her address on August 24th, 2018.

Garda David Moran told Maurice Coffey BL, prosecuting, that on foot of confidential information that controlled drugs were being stored in the Bluebell area, gardaí­ set up an operation in the area on the date in question.

Gardaí­ observed the accused leave her house with a pink holdall bag, which she handed over a railing to another woman. Gardaí called to this woman’s address and retrieved the bag which was found to contain about 3kg of heroin and almost half a kilogram of crack cocaine.

The total approximate value of all of the drugs was €470,000.

During her interview with gardaí, Coady’s solicitor handed in a signed statement in which she took responsibility for the drugs and said the woman she handed the bag to had no idea what it contained.

Coady has 17 previous convictions, the majority of which are for road traffic offences. The court heard that at the time of the offence, she was the single mother of three children.

Garda Moran agreed with Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC, defending, that his client was a vulnerable person who was used and was at the “bottom of the chain”. He agreed that Coady was a cocaine user with a debt and held the drugs for a criminal gang as a result.

Mr Ó Lideadha said it was a matter of significance that Coady did not know the value of the drugs. He said the court was entitled to take into account the importance of the value to the community of a parent.

Judge Martin Nolan said the case was mitigated by her guilty plea, her exoneration of the woman to whom she gave the bag of drugs, her being a good and caring mother and the effect her imprisonment would have on her children.

Judge Nolan sentenced her to six years’ imprisonment, but suspended the final two years of the sentence on condition she keep the peace and be of good behaviour for two years post release.