2021-07-30
Drugs defendant sobs as judge gives him 'opportunity to turn life around'
Stage: Sentence
Plea: Guilty
Outcome: At his sentence hearing at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Stone was called to give evidence by Dean Kelly SC, defending. She accepted Stone has a good work record and had suffered the recent death of his mother at a relatively young age, and said she would take his guilty plea as a mitigating factor. "He still struggles to stay off drugs but has made quite admirable attempts to do so," she said. "He does seem to have learned a salutary lesson." Judge Codd said she would impose a "lengthy" suspended sentence, and ordered a term of five years' imprisonment, suspended for three years.