A dealer caught with £40,000 of cocaine has been handed a shorter prison sentence because of his age and new baby.
A sheriff told Kal Handy he was being given a more lenient sentence because he is under 25 years old and his partner had recently given birth to their child.
Repeat offender Handy appeared in court to plead guilty to drug-dealing just four days after the birth.
Upon his return to Dundee Sheriff Court for sentencing, Sheriff Paul Brown said: “It is a serious offence and I’m sure you appreciate you have a great difficulty with your previous conviction.
“In these circumstances, there is no appropriate alternative to a custodial sentence.
“However, I will modify the level of that to take account of your age, the change in your circumstances that has come about since the commission of the offence and the new responsibilities you have.”
He told Handy the sentence would be restricted to 18 months but further reduced it to 13 months to take account of his guilty plea at an early stage in proceedings.
Charges
Handy had previously been granted bail by Sheriff Brown to “put his affairs in order” after the court was told his baby had been born just days earlier.
Handy initially appeared in the dock alongside his partner Elle Milne, 25, less than a week after she gave birth to their daughter on 14 September.
The Crown accepted Milne’s not guilty plea to being concerned in the supply of cocaine from the couple’s home in Springhill, Dundee, on November 24 last year.
Construction worker Handy, 24, admitted dealing cocaine on that date and both had a cannabis possession charge dropped by prosecutors.
Handy was locked up for 20 months in 2019 after admitting dealing cannabis, cocaine and ecstasy.
Consequences so prison laid out in court
In the latest case, solicitor Jim Laverty, defending, said: “Unfortunately he succumbed to a fairly substantial recreational use of the drug and this is what brought him to the difficulties he has.
“He has no-one else to blame but himself but his incarceration will have consequences for others – his long-term partner and the couple’s new-born baby.
“All this behaviour took place before he became aware his partner was pregnant.
“A family life in future may well be the catalyst to prevent further involvement in dug misuse.
“The impact of a custodial sentence will be fairly drastic for him and those within his very small circle, namely his partner and child.”
Mr Laverty said his client had undertaken a number of qualifications to allow him to undertake offshore work and he had been offered a four-year contract with a different company.
Nearly £40k of drugs recovered
Fiscal depute Lee Corr previously told the court police arrived at the couple’s home with a warrant on November 24 2022.
A bag of cocaine, adulterated with caffeine, worth £3,600 was found in the utility room.
Further stashes of the Class A drug, with a potential street value of £2,700, were found within the property.
A search of his car uncovered more than £31,000 worth of the drug, giving a total consignment of £38,700.
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