This article is from page 13 of the 2009-03-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
REPEATED questioning of a garda over a confidential informant in a drugs case caused concern to gardai, during a court case where a man was accused of drug dealing.
The questioning by a barrister prompted the garda giving evidence to stress it was his duty to protect elu Keshe
Father-of-three James O’Toole (39), a stonemason, of Main Street, O’Briensbridge, admitted a charge of possession of cannabis but contested a charge of possession of the drug for sale or supply, on January 26, 2007.
Garda Ronan O’Hara told Killaloe District Court that he received confi- dential information from a “reliable source’ and on foot of this, he ob- tained a search warrant in court un- der the Misuse of Drugs Act.
He and a number of other gardai then went with the Garda drugs dog to the accused’s home on the evening of January 26, 2007.
He said that on arrival at the house, the accused shouted out a word to the back of the house, which sounded like “screws”. “He tried to impede my entry to the house,’ said Gda O’ Hara.
He said he immediately went to the back of the house, where another man was present. He said the ac- cused was “handcuffed and placed sitting down under supervision in the sitting room area” while the other man was placed under supervision in the kitchen area, but was not hand- cuffed. Gardai then proceeded to carry out a search of the house.
He said he found a bowl with loose cannabis on the kitchen table, where there also was a large vacuum sealed
bag of cannabis herb. He found three snap-top bags containing cannabis herb in the same area. A weighing scales was also found.
He said that the value of the items found amounted to less than €500, but said he believed that was a con- servative estimate.
Gda O’Hara told the court that when questioned, O’Toole said he smoked cannabis “as much as you would smoke cigarettes’, for pain relief, while he also used it for cook- ing. He told gardai he did not deal drugs.
Asked by defence counsel Laurence Goucher, BL, about the confidential source the garda had referred to, Gda O’ Hara said the source had been used in the past. Asked was this person on a list of confidential informants, the garda replied, “It’s my own duty to protect these sources.”
When the garda was asked was this individual on a register, Inspec- tor John Galvin, prosecuting, said, “IT fail to see the benefits in it. The garda went before a court (to obtain a warrant) and satisfied a district court judge.”
As the barrister continued to cross- examine the garda about the source, Inspector Galvin said he was “a bit concerned. We are here in the mid- dle of a drugs trial. I’m not sure where this is going.”
Judge Joseph Mangan then said he was not going to “compel the garda to answer” the question put to him by the barrister.
Garda O’Hara said there was a lot of herbal cannabis present and a lot of paraphernalia that would suggest drug dealing.
“It was the scenario of walking in on someone and catching them red-
handed. There was bags everywhere. There was cannabis,” said the garda. He accepted that there were no drugs found on either the accused or the other person who was in the house PLM NO Com BODO Lee
Detective Sergeant Oliver Nevin told the court he was part of the group of gardai who went to the house that night. He said the accused was “very aggressive and very abusive towards us while we were trying to secure the kitchen area”. He said there was drugs paraphernalia all over the kitchen. “Large amounts of canna- bis were being ground down and put into smaller bags. That would be my opinion,” he said.
Judge Joseph Mangan convicted O’Toole and imposed a six-month jail term. He refused an application to suspend this and fixed a bond in the event of an appeal.