A homeless man who agreed to transport heroin valued at more than €200,000 to raise a deposit for a new flat has been jailed for four and half years.
Pierce Hilliard (32), previously of Ballyogan Green, Carrickmines, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of 1.48kg of the drug at Sandyford Road on May 24th, 2016. His 84 previous convictions are mainly for road traffic offences.
Hilliard told gardaí on his arrest that it was an “act of desperation”. He said his daughter was in care and he was trying to raise a deposit for a home so he would be in a better position to seek custody of her.
Det Garda Paul Kane agreed with Seán Guerin SC, defending, that Hilliard never before had a drug conviction and had no associations with the drug trade.
Mr Guerin said his client had difficulties in his personal life which made him “vulnerable to abuse by others”. He added that Hilliard had “ultimately failed to resist the temptation of an opportunity that had been presented to him”.
Det Garda Kane told Fiona McGowan BL, prosecuting, that gardaíhad set up a surveillance operation in relation to the suspected movement of drugs in Dundrum.
Shopping bag
At around 4pm they saw Hilliard get out of a taxi in a car park in the Sandyford area, go to another car and place a shopping bag in the boot. He tried to drive out of the carpark but was stopped by gardaí and the drugs were found in the shopping bag.
Hilliard said he had met someone earlier to pick up the drugs. The taxi had brought him there, waited for him and then brought him back to the car park in Sandyford. He said he was in “a very bad way” and had just registered as homeless.
The accused said he knew what he was doing was illegal and admitted he would have had to transport drugs a few times to raise enough money for a deposit.
Mr Guerin handed in a number of testimonials into court and said his client was doing well in prison.
He accepted it was a serious offence but submitted that Hilliard had met the case “in an exemplary way” and was unlikely to have any involvement in the drug trade again.
Judge Martin Nolan said Hilliard took full responsibility for the drugs and gardaí accepted his explanation that he had agreed to transport the drugs for monetary gain.