A DISTRICT court judge told a Bandon father-of-two who was caught with cocaine, as well as a mixing agent, in his home that his only saving grace was that he co-operated with gardaí and had no previous convictions.
Judge John King was dealing with the case of Emil Joni at Bandon District Court where the accused of 24 Cork Road, Bandon pleaded guilty to the possession of cocaine, the possession of cocaine for the purpose of sale or supply, the possession of a mixing agent and money laundering.
Sgt Tom Mulcahy told the court that on March 8th 2024 Det Gda Catherine McCarthy and members of the divisional drugs unit in West Cork executed a search warrant at the accused’s home.
‘He confirmed there were drugs in the house when shown the search warrant. He brought them to a bedroom where suspected cocaine was found, along with drug paraphernalia, including a weighing scale, 70 deal bags, €860 in cash and the mixing agent, creatine,’ said Sgt Mulcahy.
‘There were also text messages found on his phone indicating that he was selling the drug.’
The court heard that over 33 grams of cocaine with an estimated value of €2,320 was found during that search.
Defence solicitor Plunkett Taaffe said his client is originally from Hungary but has been living in Ireland for the past five years and has never been in court before.
‘He works and because of the erratic nature of payments he was in financial difficulty.
‘He house-shared with a Polish man who was selling cocaine and he asked him to be his courier and messenger,’ said Mr Taaffe.
‘When his house was raided he co-operated fully and he himself was a victim of crime as he owed €3,000 and the Polish man sought repayment. He sent a messenger who broke my client’s nose. There hasn’t been a repetition of this since and we believe the Polish man has gone back to Poland.’
Mr Taaffe asked the court not to impose a custodial sentence as his client is the main breadwinner in his home.
‘He’s not a criminal in the proper sense and he was caught in the early stages of this operation,’ said Mr Taaffe.
However, Judge King said that it’s a business enterprise from the accused’s perspective, as he isn’t addicted to the drug.
‘He’s dealing cocaine and mixing it and he had cash on him. The only saving grace is that he co-operated and has no previous convictions,’ said Judge King.
He remanded the accused on continuing bail to February 20th for a community service order assessment.
He said the accused must also have €1,000 in court on that date.
‘If found suitable for community service, the court will impose 120 hours of community service in lieu of four months in prison,’ said Judge King.
