Court Of Appeal Increases Tipperary Drug Dealer’s Prison Sentence.

Yesterday, the Court of Appeal greatly increased the sentence handed down to a west Tipperary drug dealer; latter caught red-handed with over €1m in cash and drugs, including 5kg of cocaine located in a potato sack.

The Director of Public Prosecutions had appealed against the sentence handed down to Mr James Curtis, aged 51 years, on the grounds that it was too lenient.

A three-judge court found that the five-and-a-half year sentence imposed on Mr Curtis, latter with an address at Reiska, Kilcommon, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, was not appropriate and a more severe sentence should have been initially imposed.

Mr Justice George Birmingham, in delivering the judgment, quashed the previous Nenagh Circuit Court sentence and increased same to one of 10 years detention, backdated to October 30th, 2020, when Mr Curtis was first arrested.

Gardaí had observed Mr Curtis leaving his residence in Reiska, Kilcommon, Thurles, under the cover of darkness and without the aid of a flashlight, on the same date, October 30th, 2020; walking along a secluded country road before crossing into a field, were he was found to be in possession of €1 million in cash and drugs, and to which he had pleaded guilty.