Warren Bale and Kaide Fowler keep suspended cannabis sentences

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Warren Bale and Kaide Fowler kept their five-year wholly suspended sentences for possessing cannabis for supply after the Court of Appeal refused the DPP’s review application on 5 July 2016. They had pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to the offence arising from cannabis cultivation at Meekstown Close, Finglas, on 21 June 2014.

The court found special and particularly exceptional circumstances justified suspending both sentences. It noted Bale’s cannabis addiction following serious pain after a road accident, while Fowler had engaged with a drug-treatment programme despite having 103 previous convictions.

The judgment recorded that about 179 mature plants were found, with an estimated value of €143,200, alongside 65 plants still growing.