Dad-of-two jailed for three months over €20 of cannabis says he was ‘flabbergasted’

“The judge said by me having €20 worth of weed I was funding the drug gangs.”

Today at 20:00

A father-of-two who was jailed for three months after being caught with €20 worth of cannabis has said he was ‘flabbergasted’ when the sentence was handed down.

Vincent Wade (47) told the Sunday World this week he was very lucky not to be behind bars as he had picked up his Community Employment pay-cheque before attending the court and was able to stump up the money needed to pay his bail.

“I was a bit flabbergasted, to say the least,” said Vincent – who is employed two to three days a week tending to the gardens of the elderly.

“The judge said by me having €20 worth of weed I was funding the drug gangs.

“And I was shocked by that.

“He told me I was contributing to gangs run by very serious criminals.

“Now, if it was class A drugs like cocaine or something, I might have said fair enough.

“But for a bit of weed – it was a bit harsh to be honest.”

When he appeared before Judge John O’Leary at Portlaoise District Court last week, Vincent admitted having the cannabis on the Dublin Road in Portlaoise on October 22, 2021.

Garda Sergeant JJ Kirby said the defendant has a number of previous convictions, including eight under the misuse of drugs act.

He revealed one conviction had occurred the day before the latest offence.

“The day after he was convicted in Portlaoise District Court he was found with drugs on his person,” Judge John O’Leary noted.

Speaking about his past convictions, Vincent said they were all for even smaller amounts of the drug than that which landed him before the court on the latest occasion.

“They (previous convictions) were all for cannabis as well,” he said.

“And smaller bits as well! Only last year, I was done for having €2 worth of cannabis.

“When the garda stopped me and was writing it all down in his notebook, he asked me how much I thought it was worth.

“And I said it was €2.

“But when we got to court, they tried to round it up to a €10.

“And I contested that …

“I was asked what the difference was between €2 and €10 – but I said it was the principal of the thing.”

Representing Vincent at the court hearing in Portlaoise, solicitor Josephine Fitzpatrick said that her client has a certain reliance on cannabis and needs to take the orders of the court more seriously.

Ms Fitzpatrick said her client was on a CE Scheme earning €247 per week.

She said that he was pleading at the earliest opportunity.

But Judge O’Leary, said that Vincent’s continued use is funding drugs gangs and he sentenced him to three months in prison.

“I hope this is a wake-up call,” he said, before fixing recognisance in case of appeal.

Speaking with this newspaper, Vincent said the jail sentence, had he not had the money to secure bail, would have had a devastating effect on his life.

“I’m after starting a Laois partnership scheme – it’s community employment,” he said.

“We drive out to Mountmellick and Abbeyleix and we’re cutting gardens for the elderly.

“There are three of us that go out in the van and we do three days one week and two days the next.

“But that job would have been gone if I had gone to prison.

“The only thing that saved me was the fact that I was only after collecting my wages at the post office.

“The solicitor had rang my mother and she didn’t have it to pay.

“So, I would have been in there until the appeal hearing.

“So, the job would have been gone – that was very harsh, I thought.

“I have no serious convictions; nothing serious, sure, I’ve never done anything.

“And I said that when I came back to my mother, that it would’ve been different if I was a known criminal.

“It was like they were trying to make a serious criminal out of me.

“I have a conviction going back a few years for not having tax and insurance and a couple of drunk and disorderlies, nothing more serious than that.”

Vincent said he believes the State is wasting money by dragging people caught with very small amounts of cannabis through the court system.

“I think it is, yeah,” he said.

“I’ve worked since I was 16 years old on the building sites when I had an apprenticeship doing pipes and insulation.

“And then I lost my job three years ago because of the pandemic.

“And I lost the car.

“So, I’m only really getting back on my feet.

“There are a lot worse than me walking out of court for having done a lot worse.”

Since being jailed, Vincent’s case has generated headlines internationally and caught the eye of MEP Luke Ming Flanagan.

On Tuesday, Mr Flanagan tweeted a court report on the case, carried in the Offaly Express, to Justice Minister Helen McEntee.

“Change the law,” he wrote. “So stupid!”