Drug dealer who told woman he would have ‘junkies’ rape her son over €157,000 debt jailed

A drug dealer who told a mother that he would get “junkies” to rape her son if she failed to repay his €157,000 debt during a campaign of intimidation has been jailed for ten years. The Special Criminal Court sentenced Mark “Fishy” Salmon (33), of Kilbarron Avenue, Kilmore, west Dublin, today for making threats to kill people or damage their property, as well as the possession of €35,000 worth of cocaine and the proceeds of crime. He had pleaded pleaded guilty to the charges in February. “The accused preyed on the mother of a person who’d amassed a drug debt and made vicious and ongoing threats to her son[s],” presiding judge Mr Justice Patrick McGrath said in passing the court’s sentence. The victim’s other son, who had no involvement in the drugs trade, was also named in threatening communications from Salmon, Mr Justice McGrath noted. “No doubt the recipient was terrified and deeply concerned for the safety of her two sons,” the judge added. The woman had left her home for a time out of concern for her safety and that of her family – while her elder son had left the country. Salmon was jailed for ten years today by the court. “[The threats] were made to strike terror in the recipients and to exert maximum pressure, exploiting her love for her son and her fear of what might happen to him if she did not comply,” Mr Justice McGrath said. Salmon’s criminal culpability was heightened by the fact that he ranked “above those at the lowest end of the supply chain” in drug dealing; was “prepared to use a considerable level of intimidation and violence” and had “profited from his criminal activities”, the judge said. However, the court noted an early guilty plea, the absence of “any relevant previous offending” and “ongoing efforts at rehabilitation” in prison, where Salmon had gained enhanced prisoner status. The headline sentences would have extended to 16 years for the offending – but were reduced to four years for the drug offence, four years for the threats and two years for the possession of the proceeds of crime. Sentencing Hearing At a previous sentencing hearing, Detective Sergeant Domhnall O’Connell told Fiona Murphy SC, for the DPP, that Salmon used the threat of violence as part of an effort to intimidate people he accused of owing him money. Mr Justice McGrath ordered that the victims not be identified after hearing that they remain in fear for their safety. Det Sgt O’Connell told Ms Murphy that on March 26, 2024, gardai stopped a man at a checkpoint in Carrick on Shannon. When they searched his car, they found a brown envelope containing 504 grams of cocaine, valued at €35,280. When gardai analysed mobile phones also found in the search, they discovered messages and voice notes from Mark Salmon giving instructions on where to deliver the drugs. The messages also stated that the person who had been driving the car owed €88,600 and that Salmon would reduce his debt by €600 for delivering the drugs. The man’s girlfriend’s phone also revealed demands by Salmon for payment and threats to the man’s life and his parents’ home. At around that time, the front windows of the man’s father’s home were smashed and his car was damaged. Det Sgt O’Connell said gardai believe Salmon organised the attack but was not one of the three men captured by CCTV carrying out the damage. In December 2023, another young man told his mother that he owed money to Mark ‘Fishy’ Salmon and was doing jobs to pay off the debt. He told his mother that Salmon wanted to speak to her and made arrangements for them to meet in January 2024 at a coffee shop in the Pavilions in Swords, north Dublin. During a 45-minute meeting, Salmon told her that her son owed €157,000 and that he would give her one month to find the money or her son would be shot. He called her one week later but she reminded him he had given her a month to come up with the money. Shortly after that call, Salmon called her again to threaten that he would get “junkies to rape” her son and threatening to drive over him and put a bullet in his head. “Sort it out, or he’s dead… Youse are lucky he’s still walking, remember that,” Salmon wrote in one text to the woman. He later texted her saying: “You think 157k is going to disappear… sort it out or he’s dead,” and: “If you’re worried about your son hanging from a rope, get a move on.” He further directly threatened her son in a text saying: “I am going to murder you. I am going to get two junkies to tie you down and rape you.” There was one further meeting in which the victim told Salmon that it would not be possible to get that kind of money. Her son fled to England but she remained in fear for herself and the rest of her family. The victim described Salmon as being “like a demon”. She said she is not a soft woman and works in security in the city centre. However, Salmon caused her “pure fear” and left her “frightened to bits”. During subsequent searches of homes linked to Salmon, gardai seized various designer watches by Armani, Michael Kors, Louis Vuitton, Rolex and Tag. Gardai also carried out a forensic analysis of Salmon’s bank accounts and various expenses, finding that he had unexplained income of €24,000 in 2022 and about €60,000 in 2023. His previous convictions are all for road traffic matters and were dealt with at the District Court. Det Sgt O’Connell said the mother of the man stopped at a checkpoint suffered a financial loss of €29,500 from handing over €7,000 to pay part of the drug debt and having been forced to stop working for six months to take care of her family. In a statement read out by the detective, she said she had suffered a “high degree of anxiety and stress” and remains in fear. She was forced to leave her home and is now paranoid about her own security. Her eldest son had to leave the country due to fears for his safety and the stress has driven her family apart, she said. The second victim said she has lost €3,500 and has suffered depression, anxiety, loneliness and isolation. Her son also had to flee the country and she is afraid to visit him in case she is followed. She said her confidence and trust in people is gone. Dominic McGinn SC, for Salmon, submitted that his client is committed to moving away from criminality and wants to be a role model for his two daughters. He has worked most of his life in gainful employment, Mr McGinn said, and wishes to return to that when he is released. Mr McGinn asked the court to depart from the presumptive minimum of ten years in prison for the drugs charge, on the basis that his client pleaded guilty. He said the value of the drugs involved of just over €35,000 was at the lower end given that the courts regularly deal with drug hauls worth millions of euros. Salmon pleaded guilty in February to engaging in acquiring and/or possessing property which was the proceeds of criminal conduct to the value of €24,257.44 between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022 and property which was the proceeds of criminal conduct to the value of €60,565.41 between 1 January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2023 while knowing or believing or being reckless as to whether the property was the proceeds of criminal conduct. He further admitted making a threat to the mother that he would kill or cause serious harm to her son on a date unknown between January 1, 2024 and 20 May, 2024. Salmon also pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing cocaine worth in excess of €13,000 for the purpose of unlawfully selling or otherwise supplying the drugs to another on 26 March, 2024 at or near Carrick-on-Shannon Co Leitrim. He further pleaded guilty to transporting the drugs that were seized at Carrick on Shannon, Co Letirim, to making threats to the girlfriend of the person transporting the drugs and to criminal damage of his parents’ home in Dublin 13. Orders were granted to the State for the forfeiture of the cash and the contents of Salmon’s bank accounts, while the court also directed the destruction of the drugs seized in the course of the investigation.