A Cardiff drug dealer has been sentenced to more than five years in prison after being caught selling heroin and cocaine on the streets – claiming he turned to crime to keep his late mother’s home 💔⚖️
Hamza Hardy, 29, was spotted by police officers selling drugs directly to users in Grangetown on 12th June. When officers searched his Corporation Road home, they discovered heroin, cocaine, burner phones, and drug paraphernalia.
Hardy pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply Class A drugs, being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs, and supplying Class A drugs at Newport Crown Court.
The court heard Hardy had numerous previous drug convictions, including a 32-month sentence in 2017 for supplying heroin and four years imprisonment in 2019 for cocaine possession with intent to supply.
In mitigation, barrister Ross McQuillan-Johnson explained that Hardy had previously been a full-time carer for his mother, who has since died. The defendant was described as “grief-stricken” and depressed, struggling with daily activities and mounting debts.
Mr McQuillan-Johnson told the court: “He turned a stream of income he knew he could turn to. He made money from this before and made the regrettable decision, in his words ‘idiotic decision’, to turn back to old ways.”
The barrister said Hardy didn’t want to give up the family home where he grew up and was concerned about the impact on his siblings.
Judge Daniel Williams sentenced Hardy to 2,045 days imprisonment – approximately five years and six months.
