Legal expert who dodged jail for cannabis growhouse issues warning over gardaí drug valuations

Cian Ó Concubhair

Cian Ó Concubhair, now a stipendiary lecturer in law at Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford, told TheJournal.ie that valuations can have a major impact on sentencing.

He said: “From the perspective of the court, the value or the amount of drugs you’re caught with is the harm you would have been causing to society.”

Mr Ó Concubhair received a five-year suspended sentence in Galway Circuit Criminal Court in 2011 after pleading guilty to possessing cannabis worth tens of thousands of euro for sale or supply.

However, he said the original gardaí valuation of over €100,000 for the 85 cannabis plants and 72 saplings seized from his flat was too high.

He believes that he could have faced a much stricter sentence if that valuation had not been challenged by his solicitor.

Mr Ó Concubhair said drug valuations were not given so much weight by the courts in other jurisdictions.

He said a change in approach could lead to different outcomes for dealers at the lowest level.