A BANTRY man caught with €4,000 worth of cocaine for sale or supply was acting as a courier and dealer while in the throes of being addicted to the drug, a court recently heard.
Shane O’Sullivan (20) of Heather Valley, Glencreagh, Bantry was charged with the possession of cocaine and possession of cocaine for sale or supply at Newtown, Bantry on April 10th 2020. Over a year later he was charged with the possession of cocaine at Bantry Garda Station on June 27th 2021.
Mr O’Sullivan was caught with €4,000 worth of cocaine on April 10th 2020 when he was stopped by gardaí in his car with two other passengers at Newtown.
Insp Kay O’Donoghue said he told gardaí he was acting more like a courier but gardaí suspect he was more than likely involved in the sale or supply of the drug in the Bantry area.Insp O’Donoghue added that on June 27th last year, Gda Mark O’Donovan observed a group of lads acting suspiciously outside the public toilets in Bantry. The defendant was acting nervously when approached by Gda O’Donovan and following a search at Bantry garda station cocaine with a value of €70 was found of him. He admitted to gardaí that it was for his own personal use.
The court was told that a probation report had been previously requested and solicitor Flor Murphy said it is ‘comprehensive and encapsulating.’
‘It’s a sad story of the descent into drug use and makes for awful reading,’ said Mr Murphy.
Judge James McNulty noted that after Mr O’Sullivan was detected with €4,000 worth of cocaine and being under scrutiny, he was re-offending again.
‘It’s fairly grave,’ remarked Judge McNulty.
Mr Murphy said his client is addressing his addiction issues and has gone back to playing sport and boxing and is living in Cork and doing counselling. He had done some urine tests but added that they need to be supervised.
‘He presents much better and is in a much better place and he was in the throes of a serious addiction to cocaine. He hasn’t come to the attention of gardaí since and is avoiding the people he hung around with before,’ said Mr Murphy, who said he hopes his client has ‘turned a corner.’
However, Judge McNulty said it was early days yet and said the sentence for the sale and supply of cocaine would be 10 months and said the only question is if it is to be served or suspended or part of it suspended.
‘Shane can expect to be under the scrutiny of this court for two years. It will be step-by-step monitoring his progress. Any setback it will be goodbye and good luck and up to Rathmore Road to Cork Prison,’ said Judge McNulty.
Judge McNulty convicted him on those charges but deferred imposing penalty.
He convicted and fined him €1,000 for the possession of cocaine on June 27th 2021 and gave him 90 days to pay the fine.
He remanded him on continuing bail to appear in court again on October 27th and requested an updated probation report, along with the results of one random urinalysis test which is to be taken between now and then.
‘The gardaí have liberty to re-enter if he re-offends again,’ Judge McNulty reminded him
