Man had hundreds of texts on his phone about drug dealing

Police executed a search warrant at an address in Great Yarmouth on September 4 last year.

Norwich Crown Court heard that while police were still searching the address they came across Donatas Jasmontas, 21, who had been sleeping in a bedroom at the property.

Andrew Jackson, prosecuting, said the defendant was searched and found to have a phone on him with “several hundred” text messages relating to the dealing of cannabis.

Mr Jackson said the phone provided evidence of “fairly large-scale dealing for a period of nine months”.

Jasmontas accepted the phone was his and told officers that although he was not doing the dealing himself, he knew about it.

This is because he lent his phone to a man who was doing the dealing.

The court heard the man who Jasmontas lent his phone to - who was described as a “facilitator” - had already been sentenced in relation to the dealing of drugs in the Yarmouth area.

Jasmontas, of Stone Road, Yarmouth, appeared in court on Friday (May 15) when he admitted supplying cannabis between June 1 2019 and September 5 2019.

He also admitted possessing cannabis on September 4 2019.

Rob Pollington, mitigating for Jasmontas, said the defendant had “allowed himself to be manipulated” and “taken advantage of”.

Mr Pollington said he had been homeless and was invited to live at the address by others who then “asked to use his phone”.

He said the defendant “knew what was happening” and also the scale of what was happening but “didn’t seek to stop them at any stage”.

Sentencing Jasmontas to 18 weeks in prison suspended for 21 months, Judge Katharine Moore, who conducted the hearing via Skype during the coronavirus lockdown, said it really was the defendant’s “last chance”.

Judge Moore added the defendant had been “aware of the scale of what was going on”.

Jasmontas was also ordered to complete 180 hours unpaid work and 15 days rehabilitation activity requirement (RAR) as part of his sentence.