Nico Francis Destro admitted one count of possession with intent to supply cocaine and two further counts of being concerned in the supply of cannabis.
The Royal Court heard that the States police searched Destro’s bedsit on 18 December and found a shoebox on top of a cupboard containing the class A drug.
They also found a set of scales, a metal tin containing cannabis and £300 in cash.
Destro admitted supplying cannabis to a number of people – including selling 200 grams to a 16-year-old.
However, he claimed he was only minding the cocaine for another drug dealer, who he refused to name. He told the police that he owed the dealer money and had been told that the longer he kept the cocaine at his home, the lower his debt would be.
Moving for a sentence of 6½ years for the offences, Crown Advocate Lauren Hallam, prosecuting, said: ‘The Crown contends that the defendant played a fundamental part in the distribution of cocaine at street level. He is at high risk of reoffending and at moderate risk of harming the public.’
Advocate Luke Sette, defending, said it was common for drug dealers to ask others to store their narcotics. He said: ‘Those higher up the supply chain rely on individuals like Mr Destro to alleviate the risk to themselves.
‘He is a young man who made a very grave error and some incredibly poor decisions.
‘This is not a case of a calculating, professional drug dealer, but of a vulnerable, naïve young man.’
Advocate Sette added: ‘He has resolved that he will have nothing further to do with drugs.’
Delivering the court’s sentence, Deputy Bailiff Robert MacRae said that the case had painted an ‘unfortunate picture of a young man who tried a few jobs he didn’t like and decided to embark on a career in selling drugs’.
He said: ‘You should understand that a career selling drugs is no career at all, but a way of damaging the community in which you live.
‘You have committed a serious offence and it is a great pity that someone of your age should have embarked on selling drugs.’
Destro was jailed for six years for the possession of cocaine with intent to supply and received two one-year sentences for two counts of supplying cannabis, both to run concurrently with the longer sentence.
The Deputy Bailiff added: ‘We earnestly hope that on your release you put this behind you.’
Jurats Anthony Olsen, Roxanne Thomas and Elizabeth Dulake were sitting.
