A Chinese father-of-two who acted as a gardener at a cannabis growhouse in Dublin has been sentenced to eight years in prison with the final four years suspended.

Sheng Dong Pan (31) was caught by gardaí looking anxious and changing his top outside a unit of Clondalkin Industrial Estate which contained cannabis worth an estimated €725,828.

Pan, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to cultivating cannabis on July 23, 2013.

He initially denied the more serious charge of possessing the drug for sale or supply and took a trial date, but entered a late guilty plea last week.

Judge Patricia Ryan sentenced Pan to eight years in prison but suspended the final four years, taking into account that he had no previous convictions and has endured the hardship of being a foreign national while in custody.

The judge also noted that Pan suffers from a skin condition affecting the nervous system.

A letter written by the accused was read out in court expressing his remorse and explaining that he was initially hired as a chef and did not realise he would be working in a growhouse until it was “already too late”.

He said he thought at first that the plants in the growhouse were “Chinese herbs”.

Sergeant Damien O'Farrell told the court that acting on intelligence, he arrived to the industrial unit with a search warrant on the day in question. Pan was seen standing close by with a black hold-all bag and an anxious appearance.

He threw the bag on the ground and rummaged through it and changed tops, before he was arrested.

Inside the industrial unit, gardaí found over 16,000 grammes of cannabis material ready for cultivation, with an estimated value of €20 per gramme. They also seized 496 cannabis plants, valued at €800 each.

In total, the cannabis found was valued at €725,828.

Pan told gardaí the plants had been there when he moved in a few weeks previously but that he didn't know it was cannabis.

He said his main job was as a cook, but that sometimes he sprayed water on the plants and helped to harvest and pack them.

He said “other people” were in charge and would come and take the drug away.

Sergeant O'Farrell said Pan had come to Ireland in 2009 to study English, and that his student visa had expired in 2011.

Ciaran O'Loughlin SC, defending, said Pan had worked as a chef in Cork and Kerry for a number of months before this offence.

He said Pan's two children had been born in Ireland, but that their mother had disappeared or deserted and they were now being cared for by Pan's elderly mother in China.

He said Pan's father in China had gone bankrupt and that his family were in financial difficulties.

In a letter read out in court, Pan said he himself had gotten into gambling problems prior to accepting the job at the growhouse.

He said he had achieved “enhanced prisoner status” in Cloverhill prison where he works in recycling, but was anxious to get back to China and care for his daughters.

Judge Ryan ordered Pan to keep the peace for three years on his release from prison.

She backdated the sentence to July 23, 2013, when Pan was taken into custody.