A FORMER UCC student who was caught delivering drugs in West Cork for a ‘pittance’ had the drugs gang chase him for the money and drugs owed after they were confiscated following his arrest, a court heard.
Callum O’Donoghue (21), of 2 Manch Villas, Glasheen Road, Cork city pleaded guilty at Bandon District Court to money laundering, possession of drugs for sale or supply, simple possession, and drug driving.
Sgt Tom Mulcahy told Judge James McNulty that on February 9th last at 11pm, Gda Sean O’Connor and Gda Daniel Curran were operating a mandatory intoxicant test checkpoint at Derrigra, Ballineen when they stopped the defendant.
‘There was a strong smell of cannabis coming from the car and he handed over €200 worth of cannabis to them. Gda Curran also carried out an oral fluid test on him which he failed,’ said Sgt Mulcahy.
‘He was arrested and taken to Bandon Garda Station and a blood sample showed that he was over the limit for driving.’
The court heard that gardaí also carried out a search of the car at the station and found €3,380 in cash of various denominations under a seat, while they also found a gearbag containing 250g of cannabis with a street value of €5,000.
During the course of an interview he made admission to be involved in the sale or supply of cannabis and that the cash seized was the proceeds of selling cannabis.
Defence solicitor Plunkett Taaffe said his client, who has no previous convictions, was attending UCC at the time and was short of money after Christmas.
‘He saw an ad on social media whereby someone was offering money to people to drive and deliver cannabis. He gave them his details, including his address and driving licence details,’ said Mr Taaffe, who admitted his client made ‘frank candid statements’ to gardaí, which made matters worse for him.
‘It was certainly a wake-up call for him and he moved back home to his parents after being arrested. But the people who owned the drugs and money came looking for it. He had to leave Cork immediately.’
Mr Taaffe said his client is now clear of cannabis and produced certs in court as well as a letter from his client’s GP. He is currently working in hospitality and has undertaken a course with a restaurant that employs him.
‘He does regret it. He has had difficulties in his life and I would ask the court not to impose a custodial sentence,’ Mr Taaffe said.
Judge McNulty said it was a ‘big ask’ as the defendant had over €3,000 under the seat in his car as well as a gearbag full of drugs.
‘He was the delivery driver for the bigger people and doing the dirty work for them. He was dealing on a serious level,’ said the judge. ‘It’s not like he was 15 or 16, he got the points to get into commerce at UCC, which indicates that he is bright. You would think that when there he would leave the weed alone but then he gets involved in delivering nationwide for a pittance.’
Mr Taaffe said his client owned up to everything and will have these drug convictions for the rest of his life, has lost his education and can’t come back to Cork for obvious reasons.
‘He’s done as much as he can and jail time won’t advance him,’ said Mr Taaffe.
The judge said if a custodial sentence wasn’t imposed there would be no deterrent for others contemplating doing the same thing.
However, he said he had been persuaded by Mr Taaffe and noted that the defendant is anxious and distressed. He sentenced him to eight months in prison on the sale or supply charge but suspended it for two years on the usual conditions and without probation service supervision.
He also directed that he provide random saliva samples at the request of gardaí during that period.
Judge McNulty convicted and fined him €1,000 on the money laundering charge and took into consideration two simple possession charges. He also disqualified him from driving for one year and convicted and fined him €100.
He was told that the defendant didn’t pay back what he owed his drug suppliers.
‘It’s probably an occupational hazard when you lose product at a garda checkpoint,’ he remarked.
