A convicted Ennis drug dealer is to appear before Judge Patricia Ryan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court today (Thursday) to face an application to activate a five year suspended prison sentence for other offences.
A jury of nine men and three women returned a unanimous guilty verdict in the case of Brian Greene, 39, of 2 Corrovorrin Avenue, Ennis who was charged with having €783 worth of heroin for sale or supply over three years ago.
At Ennis Circuit Criminal Court, Greene had denied having heroin for sale or supply at his Ennis address on September 13, 2011.
The jury deliberated for a little less than an hour and a half before returning their verdict.
After the jury were dismissed, the court was informed that the accused has a five-year suspended sentence in existence in relation to another conviction for having drugs for sale or supply and it was suggested he may be “a flight risk” in light of this.
The previous conviction was recorded in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on July 1, 2011 and a condition of the suspended sentence was that the accused commit no further crime within the time of the suspension.
As the matters before Ennis Circuit Court relate to a date two months after this conviction, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court must now decide whether to activate the suspended five-year term of imprisonment.
Detective Garda Dominic Regan made an application to Judge Gerald Keys, presiding, that Greene be returned to the next sitting of Dublin Circuit Court this Thursday for Judge Patricia Ryan to consider the matter.
He asked the court to consider remanding Greene in custody to that court, as he said, “he is facing a five-year sentence in the Dublin case alone, so he may present a flight risk”.
It was also pointed out by prosecuting barrister, Stephen Coughlan, (BL), that Greene had fought every aspect of the case before the court this week, knowing that this suspended sentence was hanging over him.
Judge Gerald Keys remanded Greene in custody to appear at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court this Thursday morning.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.