Courts / Kerry / Report

Vietnamese man "found asleep" in €1.4m cannabis plot has sentence cut

Summary

Cao Son Nguyen, a 30‑year‑old Vietnamese man with no fixed abode, was found asleep beside a toilet in a unit at the Clash Industrial Estate in Tralee, where cannabis plants potentially worth €1.4 million were growing. He had pleaded guilty to cultivation and to possession of cannabis for sale or supply on 21 October 2013. The original sentence of ten years imprisonment, with the last four years suspended, was imposed by Judge Tom E O'Donnell at the Tralee Circuit Criminal Court. On appeal, Nguyen's counsel, Philip Sheahan SC, argued that the case resembled a growhouse operation and that the DPP's charge of sale or supply was unusual. The Court of Appeal, led by Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan, agreed that the offence had been placed too high on the penalty scale and that Nguyen's circumstances differed from those of his co‑accused.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Vietnamese man "found asleep" in €1.4m cannabis plot has sentence cut. Charges or matters: cultivation as well as possession of cannabis for sale or supply at a unit in the Clash Industrial Estate, Tralee Co, Kerry on October 21, 2013. Procedural stage: appeal

When:

• October 21, 2013 Incident
• 2016-12-19 Publication

Case subjects

Places mentioned

Topics

Drugs Stage Appeal

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Read the original CNI report