Army rangers would struggle to find cannabis hidden in isolated Cork location

GARDAÍ acting on confidential information found over €100,000 worth of cannabis in an area of North Cork described as remote in the extreme.

57-year-old forester, Michael Beary, faced sentencing at Cork Circuit Criminal Court today for having the cannabis for sale or supply on his remote lands at Billeragh West, near Kilworth, County Cork.

Detective Garda Conor McNamara agreed with a submission from defence senior counsel Elizabeth O’Connell at the sentencing hearing that it would have been difficult to locate the drugs without the cooperation of the accused.

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said that without the help of the accused it would have been a struggle for army rangers to find the concealed drugs.

The judge accepted that Beary was otherwise of good character and may have succumbed to pressure from others to conceal the drugs for them while they would have been the ones to benefit from their sale.

However, the judge said he was concerned that the sentence would have some deterrent effect given the quantity.

As well as €119,000 worth of cannabis herb there was €9,000 worth of cocaine for sale or supply.

The drugs were stored in the forested area on the defendant’s lands.

After considering the prosecution evidence and the submissions in mitigation that he was not a criminalised person, the judge concluded that the appropriate sentence was one of six years which he would suspend for the defendant to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for a period of six years.