When police in Swansea picked up a restaurant worker wanted by colleagues in London they found he was involved in dealing heroin, cocaine and cannabis, a court has heard.
Officers tracked Emanuel Ollivierre down to a bedsit in the Uplands area of the city and found he had a stash of Class A drugs, weighing scales, and a phone full of incriminating text messages. The defendant has a previous conviction for drug dealing from Cambridgeshire, and sending the 24-year-old back to prison the judge told him drugs was a "mug's game - unless you want to spend your life inside". Swansea Crown Court was told that before the sentencing hearing the defendant had asked his advocate to try to contact his mother for him, as his attempts to call her from prison had failed - but it emerged his mum had recently passed away.
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Georgia Donohue, prosecuting, said on December 29 last year police officers went to a bedsit on Nyanza Terrace in Uplands looking for Ollivierre who was wanted by the Metropolitan Police in connection with breaching a court order. Ollivierre was present at the bedsit and was arrested, as was another Londoner who was also wanted by the Met. A search of the room uncovered bags of both heroin and cocaine along with weighing scales covered in traces of white powder, and a number of mobile phones. The court heard Ollivierre's cautioned response when told he was being arrested over the drugs was: "What the **** bro? That's not mine."
Messages found on the defendant's phone showed his involvement throughout the month of December in supplying "light" and "dark" - cocaine and heroin - and offering "best of both" for sale. Texts relating to supplying cannabis between March and May of 2022 were also found. In his subsequent interview Ollivierre said he had initially worked in a restaurant after moving to Swansea but when he lost that job he had to find another source of income to pay the £380 per month rent on the bedsit.
Emanuel Ollivierre, of Nyanza Terrace, Uplands, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to possession of heroin with intent to supply, possession of cocaine with intent to supply, being concerned in the supply of heroin, being concerned in the supply of cocaine, and supplying cannabis when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has four previous convictions for nine offences. In June 2017 he was sentenced to 54 months in prison at Cambridge Crown Court for possession of heroin and cocaine with intent to supply, and being concerned in the supply of heroin and cocaine.
Jon Tarrant, for Ollivierre, said after coming to Swansea the defendant had found a job in a restaurant but when that ended he returned to his old ways. He said after holding a conference with his client, Ollivierre had asked him if he could contact his mother for him as his attempts to call her from prison had failed - the advocate said he tried to speak the defendant's mum but it turned out she had passed away, something which had "hit the defendant hard".
Judge Geraint Walters told the defendant that if he were to be caught dealing in a Class A drugs for a third time he would be looking at a minimum seven-year sentence as a repeat offender. He said: "Drugs are a mug's game - unless you want to spend your life inside. You have already missed spending time with your mother in her final days. What do you have to show from your involvement with drugs? Nothing." With credit for his guilty pleas Ollivierre was sentenced to a total of 54 months in prison. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
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