The Court of Appeal has replaced six-year prison sentences imposed on Ba Nguyen and Ha Nguyen for cultivating cannabis with three-year sentences, which it suspended unconditionally.
The court allowed their appeals against the severity of sentence after finding that the sentencing judge had erred in placing the offences in the higher range. It quashed the original sentences and held a new sentence hearing before imposing the replacements.
Both appellants had pleaded guilty at Trim Circuit Court on 7 June 2013 to cultivating cannabis, contrary to section 17 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977, as amended. Each had received six years’ imprisonment, with the final two years suspended on conditions requiring good behaviour after release.
The appeals arose from a Garda search on 20 November 2012 of a commercial unit on a business campus in Co Meath. Officers seized about 1,300 cannabis plants at different stages of growth. The judgment said their potential street value when harvested was more than €1 million. The appellants were found living in the unit in rudimentary conditions and each accepted a role in cultivation during Garda interviews.
The court record described both as vulnerable and effectively trafficked into Ireland, under the control of unidentified third parties. It said Ba Nguyen had been at the lowest level in the organisation and had previously worked as a farmer in Vietnam while trying to repay debts of about €30,000. Ha Nguyen was unlikely to have made significant money from the operation, the court said, and had limited English and little familiarity with the area where she was working. The judgment also recorded that she had regained contact with her son, who had been missing when she was brought to Ireland.
The sentencing judge had considered the cultivation system, the potential value of the drugs and their harmful effect on society as aggravating factors. Mitigating factors included the appellants’ vulnerability, guilty pleas, cooperation with Gardaí and remorse.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, responding to the appeals, submitted that the offences probably fell at the lower end of the mid range. The Court of Appeal’s judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Sheehan on 4 December 2014, states that the new three-year sentences were imposed in lieu of the original terms and that the balance was suspended unconditionally.