By Jason Evans

Copyright walesonline

A man was running a “crack house” in his home on a residential street, a court has heard. When police raided the property and found dozens of wraps of crack, Dwayne Connike claimed a friend had left them in his toilet and he had merely fished them out and kept them for his own use. Sending the 44-year-old father-of-three down, a judge said there was an “element of violence” associated with the crack house, and the court heard Connikie’s last conviction was for possession of a fighting dog. Newport Crown Court heard officers executed a warrant at Connikie’s house in the Pill area of Newport in December last year and found the defendant along with a number of other people at the property. A search of the house revealed a tub in Connikie’s bedroom which contained 58 wraps of crack cocaine along with £240 in cash and a number of phones. A further nine wraps of the drug were found under the sofa in the living room. The defendant was arrested, and in interview denied being involved in the supply of drugs. He told officers that the wraps in his bedroom had been left in his toilet by a friend of his who was a dealer, and he said he had kept them but only for his own personal use. He said he knew nothing about any wraps under his sofa. For the latest court stories sign up to our crime newsletter Dwayne Connikie, of Pardoe-Thomas Close, had previously pleaded guilty to possession of crack cocaine with intent to supply when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has 10 previous convictions for 16 offences including production of cannabis and possession of cannabis with intent to supply from 2017 for which he was sentenced to five years in prison. His last conviction was from June this year when he was fined £120 for having a fighting dog, namely an XL Bully. A dog destruction order was also made. Kirsten Murphy, for Connikie, said the defendant had experienced a “troubled childhood” and been exposed to drugs from a “very young age”. She said her client had been using crack cocaine as a “coping mechanism” for his trauma and emotional distress but said the substance only seemed to make his mental health worse. She said the father-of-three’s supplying of drugs had been limited to people who attended the Pill property and had been done for very little financial gain. The barrister said the defendant was now engaging with drugs agencies and was “distancing himself from negative influences in his life”. Recorder Mark Powell KC said Connike had been running a “crack house” at his property and that there was “an element of violence” associated with the operation. He said the defendant was an habitual drug user and supplier, and he said based on everything he had read he had no confidence that Connikie would comply with any mental health treatment requirement if the court were to make one. With a 20% discount for his guilty plea Connikie was sentenced to 32 months in prison. He will serve up to half the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. The recorder told the defendant: “I have read about your family and about your desire to have a relationship with your children. “If you carry on offending like this you are going to spend most of your time in custody. I hope you take advantage of the help that is on offer to you, otherwise you have got a pretty grim future.”