Judge jails unemployed heroin dealer for six years

A young unemployed woman from Dublin's inner city who lived
in luxury has been jailed for six years for drugdealing. Louise
Byrne (23), a mother of two, owned a car worth £6,000 which
she paid for in cash, lived with her partner in a suburban house
which had a marbletiled jacuzzi, stateofthe art electrical
equipment and mahogany fittings.

She admitted making at least £1,440 profit a week from selling
heroin and to have made £17,580 over three months.

Det Garda Angela Willis agreed with Mr Niall Durnin,
defending, that Byrne's partner was older and "wellknown" to
gardai. Byrne had a heroin addiction.

Judge Cyril Kelly said Byrne had all the trappings of a
professional young woman with a successful career. But she
had never worked and had never been trained for any gainful
work. He could only assume she earned her money from
drugdealing. Judge Kelly said the court did not differentiate
between male and female drug dealers. He had no option but
to jail her. He refused leave to appeal against severity of
sentence.

Byrne, from Gardiner Street flats, pleaded guilty at Dublin
Circuit Criminal Court to having heroin worth about £1,500 for
supply on August 14th, 1996.

Det Garda Willis told Ms Una McGurk, prosecuting, she was
driving an unmarked patrol car when she saw Byrne and her
partner in a car in Gardiner Street. She had confidential
information there were drugs in the car and when she
approached it, Byrne threw some plastic bags on to the street.
These contained batches of heroin for street deals. Byrne took
full responsibility for it.

The Walkinstown house Byrne shared with this man was
searched and drugdealing items were found. Byrne had two
previous convictions as a child, the last for larceny when she
was 13. At earlier hearings, Judge Kelly was told Byrne was
undergoing heroinblocking treatment with a drug called
Naltrexone in an English hospital. This drug could be taken
orally or could be implanted under local anaesthetic and
followup medication was also required.

Mr Durnin said he believed the London treatment project was
"a dead horse" as far as his client was concerned. He felt it was
not suitable for a person with a heroin habit and was aimed
more at affluent middleclass people. He was not satisfied with
the followup procedures either.

Mr Durnin said Byrne would have been better off submitting
herself from the start to Trinity House and eventually a centre
like Coolmine.

Judge Kelly commended Mr Durnin for his approach to the
case. He had come to the same conclusion about the implant
treatment the more he read about it.

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