Andrew Carey
andrew@limerickpost.ie
A WIDOER and convicted Limerick drug dealer whose suspended prison sentence became the centre of a political storm last year over has been told that he is “walking on incredibly thin ice” by a judge who said it would be unjust to revoke his freedom over the theft of metal containers last year.
The sentencing hearing of Hugo Porter last year became the centre of a political storm when the Fianna Fail spokesperson for justice Niall Collins TD wrote a letter to the court on behalf of Mr Porter.
The widowed father of four from St Patrick Villa’s, Castleconnell, along with Alan Lysaght (40) from Scanlon Park, Castleconnell, were both convicted and sentenced last year for the drug offences committed in June of 2011.
The men were convicted in connection with the discovery of drugs, namely cannabis herb valued at €11,634 and cannabis resin valued at €6,064, that was hidden in a ditch in a ammunition box in Castleconnell. Porter along with another man Alan Lysaght arrived to the scene in a jeep to move them.
Lysaght was jailed for three years with the final year suspended for three years.
At the sentencing hearing for Hugo Porter, a letter was handed in to Judge Carroll Moran from Niall Collins TD asking that the court consider all options before sentencing the 41-year-old given his tragic family circumstances.
Hugo Porter’s wife died tragically in January 2014 and left him as sole surviving parent for his four children from the marriage and the whole of the 41-year-old’s sentence was suspended with a judge’s warning that he was “a very lucky man and you have a responsibility to your sons to never get into trouble again.”
The FF justice spokesperson later said that he regretted writing the letter given the furore it caused.
This Tuesday, State solicitor Michael Murray said that application pursuant to section 99 of the Criminal Justice Act was being made by the DPP. It arose on November 6 last after the father of four was convicted of a contested theft offence at Nenagh District Court.
Mr Murray told the court that in mid December last year, six weeks after been given the suspended sentence, Hugo Porter and another man called to the home of a farmer in his 80s and enquired if he had any scrap metal to sell.
The farmer, Ned Ryan who is in his 80s, told the men that he had two steel containers and that he would sell them if he got €1,000 but that he later declined to sell them “because of some suspicions”.
Mr Murray added that it transpired the accused arranged for a metal company, Clear Circle Metal, to call to the rural farm and collect the steel metal tanks.
Subsequently, a complaint was made and CCTV footage was harvested from the Clear Circle premises and Hugo Porter was seen “seeking prompt payment of €635”.
The court heard that the 41-year-old was arrested and charged with the theft offences, before contesting them at a hearing before Nenagh District Court.
Judge John Hannan, sitting at Limerick Circuit Court was told that accused “obtained a suspended sentence given his difficult family circumstances.” and details of a number of previous convictions were given to the court including a two-year suspended sentence that Porter was given for an assault in Ennis in 2009 and the later drugs offence of 2011.
Asking that the court not impose the suspended sentence, defence counsel Michael Collins BL said that Hugo Porter was convicted “notwithstanding the contest” in what was described as an unusual set of circumstances.
Mr Porter was one of two men that called to the farm to carry out a legitimate “commercial transaction” to which there were a number of parties involved and misunderstandings seem to surround events.
Michael Collins BL said that what happened, “happened in broad daylight with another man and a third party company, neither of which have been prosecuted if the circumstances are to be upheld”.
He said that at the time, Mr Porter was speaking to the farmer as the two watched the metal tanks being loaded on to the Clear Circle truck and that “no protest vented or articulated was evident from the owner of the metal tanks”.
Michael Collins, who revealed that his client would be appealing the conviction at Nenagh District Court, said that he had to reject the suggestion that Mr Porter’s activity “flies in the face of the court’s indulgence in suspending his previous prison sentence, as I can tell you from my dealings with Mr Porter, he fully appreciates the indulgence of the court”.
“And, assuming that the conviction in the District Court is upheld, the activity in Birdhill is in stark contrast to his previous activity of assault and drug dealing”, added Mr Porter’s defence counsel.
The court was also asked to consider an annomoly in the legislation governing the consideration of suspended sentences as Michael Collins said that if the Circuit Court activated the suspended sentence and Mr Porter was later successful in his appeal of the theft conviction, this would be unjust.
Mr Murray said that the court should have regard to all matters before the court and that it may be the case that the “tortuous route (of jailing Hugo Porter) might have to be embarked upon before this matter is concluded”.
However, Judge John Hannan said that havng considered all the matters before the court and any consequential effects that would flow, “it would be unjust” to impose the suspended sentence, but warned Hugo Porter that despite the unusual set of circumstances “the only comment I will make is that you are walking on incredibly thin ice”.
Hugo Porter was remanded on continuing bail to appear before Nenagh District Court later this week.
