A Dublin father of six has been jailed for ten years for possession of a gun, ammunition and drugs worth over €300,000.
James O’Reilly (32) of Earlsfort Road, Lucan pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to having a loaded revolver, ammunition and quantities of cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines for sale or supply when gardai raided the home he shared with his partner on December 6th, 2007.
Detective Garda Diarmuid Maguire, from the organised crime unit, told prosecuting counsel r Kerida Naidoo BL, that a “cocaine processing factory” was discovered in a garden shed at the back of the house.
Large quantities of cocaine, 10,000 ecstasy tablets, 15 bags of amphetamines, a gun and ammunition were found hidden behind a wooden board in the bedroom.
A hydraulic press and weighing scales were among drug processing paraphernalia seized.
Detective Garda Maguire told the court that on arrest O’Reilly, who has eight previous convictions for drugs and road traffic offences, “admitted his role instantly”.
He said O’Reilly told gardai he was being paid to hold the drugs and that they had been in the house for about two weeks. O’Reilly said he had bought the revolver “for his own protection”.
Pieter Le Vert BL said his client was a father of six children with a previous work history. He also told the court that Mr O’Reilly had lost his brother when he was shot dead outside Cloverhill Prison a number of years ago.
Judge Frank O’Donnell said O’Reilly was “very deeply involved” in the processing of drugs and didn’t “have the cloak of addiction around him”.
He said that despite his previous drug convictions O’Reilly was “still going at it in a big way” when gardai raided his home and that the gun was “ready to go and would have used it if the occasion had arisen”.
Judge O’Donnell imposed the mandatory 10 year sentence for the drugs offence. A seven year prison term was imposed for gun possession and five years for the ammunition charge.