A grandfather has been jailed for 6 years after cocaine to the value of €563,360, and 16,876 MDMA tablets worth €168,760 were discovered at his Dublin home.
The Circuit Criminal Court heard that Jason Elliot of Ballyfermot Avenue, Ballyfermot Dublin 9, was storing the drugs on behalf of others after running up a €20,000 debt for his own cocaine use.
On the 23rd of August 2022 a search warrant was executed in respect of the home of the accused before the drugs were found in various locations including €3,000 of cocaine in a runner. Another €8,000 worth of cocaine was found in a black canvas overall.
Off to the side of an attic bedroom the MDMA tablets were found hidden under a number cardboard boxes.
Two vans, which were found to have hidden compartments, were also seized, one of which was in the driveway of the house, and another across road. One of the vans had the same cocaine wrapping material inside, the court heard.
Although the accused was not in the home at the time of the execution of the search warrant, he was later arrested in the Ballyfermot area and made “full admissions” in respect of the drugs. He said that nobody else in the home was involved with them and that he was “holding” them for other parties.
Elliot, who has no previous convictions, said that 3 ounces of cocaine, which was found on a plate in the house, was for his own personal use.
The court heard that the accused came to Ireland 29 years ago, as he married an Irish woman, and has a family here. His cocaine use “got out of hand” during covid and he was “struggling” to make payments on his home while his wife was also out of work and in receipt of social welfare.
He indicated to Gardaí that he is “now in fear for himself and the safety of his family because the drugs had been found,”.
At the time his offending he was also subject to a loan from AIB which has a 11.8% interest rate, the court heard.
Judge Martin Nolan said that the home of the accused “showed no trappings of wealth” and that he was “struggling to make ends meet”. He is a qualified glazer and was cooperative with Gardaí, albeit not revealing the names of the owners of the drugs as he was in fear of “very significant repercussions if he were to name names,” his defending counsel argued.
“Retribution can be swift and severe,” his counsel argued, adding that his client had not come to further Garda attention since his offending.
Elliot is due to have surgery next month and has been on a waiting list for 3 years, the court heard.
His wife and tearful daughters attended court in support of the accused, with one of his daughters submitting a letter expressing that she “would have done anything she could to help him if she knew of difficulties,”.
Judge Nolan said that the accused had “serious problems” with drugs which had led him to “developed a serious debt”.
He said that Elliot “should have done the decent thing” and “not obey” those who asked him to store the drugs, but that “it seems he decided to help them in their drug dealing enterprise,”.
Taking into consideration the mitigating factor of the accused’s level of cooperation, his clean record, that he is unlikely to reoffend, and that he is a “good family man”, the court sentenced him to 6 years in jail to commence on the 26th of February 2026 to allow for the scheduled surgery to take place.