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Truck driver given suspended sentence for moving €900k in drugs is jailed after appeal
Summary
A 43-year-old truck driver from Ballyshannon, County Donegal, has been sentenced to seven years' imprisonment by the Court of Appeal after his original suspended sentence was deemed unduly lenient. Ciaran Lawn pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance for sale or supply following his arrest in December 2019 near Ardee, County Louth, while transporting drugs valued at approximately €900,000. The Director of Public Prosecutions successfully appealed the three-year wholly suspended sentence imposed by Dundalk Circuit Criminal Court in July 2021. At the Court of Appeal hearing in March, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, sitting with the Court President and another judge, imposed a seven-year custodial term with the final three years suspended. The court determined an appropriate headline sentence for the offence would not be less than ten years. Gardaí recovered vacuum-sealed packages containing cannabis and cocaine from a van during the operation.
Who, what, where, when and why
What: Report matter: Truck driver given suspended sentence for moving €900k in drugs is jailed after appeal. Procedural stage: appeal
When:
- December 15, 2019 Incident
- March 21 Adjournment
- 2022-05-25 Publication
Case subjects
Appellant
Outcome: Ciaran Lawn (43), of Derrykillew, Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, was given a three-year wholly suspended sentence after pleading guilty to possession of a controlled substance for sale or supply contrary to Section 15a of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 on December 15, 2019 at Drumgoolestown, near Ardee, Co Louth. In a judgement delivered by Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy yesterday afternoon, Lawn was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment with three years suspended.; Pointing to the fact he was not present in court when the suspended sentence had been quashed at a first hearing in March, she added: "It does say something about him that he [subsequently] came to court to be remanded in custody when the court had already made its determination." At the March 21 hearing, Kevin Segrave BL, for the DPP, said that wholly suspended sentences were only handed down whe
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