The Court of Appeal has dismissed Nicholas Oloinu’s appeal against the severity of a nine-year prison sentence imposed for money laundering and possessing cocaine for sale or supply. The final 12 months were suspended on conditions.
In a judgment delivered on 26 February 2024, Mr Justice Edwards said the appeal court found no error in the 12-year headline sentence set for the drugs offence. After a reduction for mitigation, the sentencing judge imposed nine years on that count and ordered the money-laundering sentence to run concurrently. The appeal court also rejected Oloinu’s argument that he should have received a greater reduction for his guilty plea.
Oloinu had pleaded guilty to both offences. The charges followed a Garda search of a residential property on Newcastle Road, Galway, on 25 June 2021. Gardaí found 48 grammes of cocaine in a bedroom and about €2,860 in cash. After Oloinu told them there was more cocaine in a wheelie bin behind the property, they found 1,886 grammes of cocaine there, valued at €132,041, according to Garda evidence at the sentencing hearing.
The court said Oloinu admitted in interviews that he had about 300 customers, mainly college students, and that on a good day his dealing could make up to €3,000. The appeal judges said his involvement was high-level and driven by profit, supporting a headline sentence well above the statutory presumptive minimum for the drugs offence.
The court accepted that Oloinu was entitled to be treated as if he had signed his guilty plea in the District Court. It said that would normally merit some additional credit, but there was no fixed discount. The judges considered the extra reduction should be modest because he had effectively been caught red-handed, the evidence was strong, and a guilty plea was required if he was to seek a sentence below the presumptive minimum.
The court said the sentencing judge’s overall discount for mitigation, including the early plea, was sufficient and within the judge’s discretion. It dismissed the appeal. The judgment records that the sentencing judge also made a destruction order for the drugs and a confiscation order for the seized money.