Courts / Cork / Report
Suspended sentence appropriate for former drug dealer doing his 'level best'
Summary
In a Court of Appeal decision on 29 July 2025, Judge Brian O'Moore upheld a fully suspended sentence for Mohamed Adeagbo, a 24‑year‑old from Highfield, Ballincollig, who pleaded guilty to possessing €114,000 worth of cocaine for sale and to a money‑laundering offence involving €1,530 in cash. Adeagbo had been paid €500 per week for his role in drug supply. The Court found the three‑and‑a‑half‑year drug sentence, fully suspended, and a concurrent one‑year money‑laundering sentence, also fully suspended, to be appropriate. The Director of Public Prosecutions had appealed, arguing the sentence was unduly lenient, citing the quantity of drugs, cash, and an iPhone with offending messages. The Court rejected the appeal, noting Adeagbo's compliance with probation, his drug‑free status at sentencing, and his efforts to reform, and stated that the suspended sentence did not represent a substantial departure from an appropriate penalty.".
Who, what, where, when and why
What: Report matter: Suspended sentence appropriate for former drug dealer doing his 'level best'. Charges or matters: having cocaine for sale or supply at a time when its street value exceeded €13,000, at his home address on April 25, 2022; a money-laundering charge that on April 22, 2022, at the address at Highfield Park, he possessed the proceeds of criminal conduct, namely €1,530 in cash, while knowing that it was the proceeds of criminal conduct. Procedural stage: appeal
When:
- April 25, 2022 Incident
- April 22, 2022 Incident
- 2025-07-29 Publication
Case subjects
Convicted Person
Charges: having cocaine for sale or supply at a time when its street value exceeded €13,000, at his home address on April 25, 2022; a money-laundering charge that on April 22, 2022, at the address at Highfield Park, he possessed the proceeds of criminal conduct, namely €1,530 in cash, while knowing that it was the proceeds of criminal conduct (Admitted)
Plea: Guilty
Outcome: He was sentenced to three and a half years for the drug offence, fully suspended, with a concurrent one-year sentence on the second charge, also fully suspended by Judge Helen Boyle at Cork Circuit Criminal Court last November. In dismissing the appeal at the Court of Appeal today, Mr Justice Brian O'Moore said Adeagbo had satisfied the judge that he was drug free at the time of sentencing, had complied entirely with everything that was asked of him by the Probation Service and had done his "level best" to get himself back on track. "The sentencing judge was quite entitled, in those truly exceptional circumstances, to fully suspend the sentence imposed on Mr Adeagbo," Mr Justice O'Moore said.
Places mentioned
- Court of Appeal
- Cork
- Cork Circuit Criminal Court
- Ballincollig
- Cork
- Highfield Park
Topics
Related court reports
- Mentally ill man who put fellow psychiatric patient in chokehold to be immediately released into care of UK parents
- 'Alternative dispute resolution': man arranged 'straightener' during which dad-of-seven was stabbed to death
- Brothers who sexually assaulted teenage girls in mid-nineties can now be identified for first time
- ESB worker too late to pursue claim seeking €42k in alleged unpaid overtime
- 'No hand, act or part': Osgur Breatnach's wrongful conviction for Sallins train robbery declared a miscarriage of justice
- Migrant engineer who worked 10-hour days for under minimum wage wins €14k
If a fact, identity, locality or legal outcome needs review, email the newsroom with this report's details prefilled.
Email a correction request