A BANTRY man who denied he was involved in the sale or supply of drugs has been sentenced to 12 months in prison after a court was told that he had bought the drugs for someone who needed them for pain relief.
Jack Miles (38) of 2 Gate Lodge, Old Barrack Road, Bantry pleaded not guilty at Bantry District Court to the possession of cannabis for sale or supply on April 17th last.
Gda Jason Daly of Bantry Garda Station told the court that on April 10th he received confidential information that the defendant was selling both cannabis and cocaine in the Beara area.
After obtaining a search warrant, he and a number of colleagues accompanied by the Garda Dog Unit went to an address at Coominchies in Allihies on April 17th at 10.30am.
‘The defendant and his girlfriend were in an apartment on a property site owned by her mum. When Gda Pat Harrington called into their home, they were both on the couch and he asked them was there anything in the house,’ said Gda Daly.
‘She pointed to a basket in the living room which contained cannabis and handed it over to him. Mr Miles took ownership of it and a caution memo was taken. He said he was going to give the cannabis to a person for free and not for profit.’
The cannabis was valued at €560. No further drugs were found on the premises. Defence solicitor Flor Murphy said that his client’s girlfriend Pema Beshoff then called to Gda Daly and told him that a friend of her late father’s wanted the cannabis for pain relief.
‘She asked Jack to get it, which he did, and there was nothing else found and nothing to suggest that it was a dealer’s house,’ said Mr Murphy.
He said the only evidence of sale or supply was the amount of cannabis found that day, while Gda Daly said that Mr Miles did admit supplying without profit. Giving evidence, Pema Beshoff said she had been asked by an elderly friend of her dad’s if she would be able to get cannabis for pain relief.
‘Jack sourced it and I was due to meet the man I was buying it for. I paid for the cannabis and put it into the basket, which contained candles and incense and lighters,’ she said.
‘When the gardaí called and said they had a search warrant I was in shock but I pointed to the cannabis in the basket.’
She told the court that Jack took ownership of the cannabis as he didn’t want her to get into trouble.
‘I called to Gda Daly a few days later and I was really upfront and I wanted to take partial responsibility for it, as Jack had been in trouble before.’
Insp Roisín O’Dea asked her why this friend asked her to get him the cannabis and she replied that it was because of Jack’s history in relation to drugs. Jack Miles said he ‘stupidly enough’ agreed to source the cannabis for her after she asked him.
‘That morning was surreal and the garda source was saying we were selling cannabis and cocaine. I didn’t want to get Pema in trouble but I regret now taking responsibility for the cannabis,’ said Mr Miles, who refused to disclose who he bought the drugs from.
‘I’m not a grass and I’m not throwing someone under the bus.’
The court heard that he has 29 previous convictions including eight for the possession of drugs, and four for the possession of drugs for sale or supply, and that his offence was committed while he was on bail.
Judge James McNulty said there were some aspects of Ms Beshoff’s evidence which were ‘barely credible’.
‘I’m not sure is she naïve or being untruthful and she’s bringing him into the purchase of drugs to supply to another person,’ he said.
The judge also found the defendant to be an untruthful witness and said he is ‘criminally astute’ as he replied ‘no comment’ to questions put to him by Gda Daly in their initial interview.
‘His answer that he wasn’t supplying for profit might be true, but this court considers it unlikely. He’s not an innocent. He has quite some history and she’s aware of his history.’
The judge also said that if the person had any regard for Pema and Jack and knew his history, that person should have said they would source it themselves.
Mr Murphy said that it was the lower end of sale or supply, and gardaí accepted that it’s not a big operation, while Judge McNulty said the court accepts that there was no tick list or reports of people coming and going to the property.
‘There is no doubt he had purchased the drugs to supply to another person, and the court rejects the humanitarian aspect of buying and supplying,’ said the judge.
He sentenced Mr Price to 12 months in prison on the possession of cannabis for sale or supply, and took into consideration the simple possession charge.
Recognisances were fixed in his own bond of €100 and he also sought one independent surety of €15,000, with a third of that amount to be provided in cash.
He also said the surety would need to be approved by the court and the court would not accept Pema Beshoff as a surety.
