This article is from page 19 of the 2008-04-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 19 JPG
A DUBLIN man who came to Ennis believed he had found the drugs “sale of the century” when he discovered he had bought 41 ecstasy tablets for €60.
Matthew Moore, (25) of 37 Blue- bell Road, Dublin 12, was “genuine- ly surprised” after he was searched and gardai found more than 40 tabs of the drug on him, a Garda court witness said.
Garda Stephen Jenkins told the
Ennis Circuit Court that Moore had travelled from Dublin to attend a DJ night in the nightclub in The Barge Rooms on April 1.
He came to the notice of gardai through an interaction with another man who had been the subject of an undercover Garda surveillance op- eration, Judge Sean O’Donnabhain heard.
When the accused was approached, Garda Jenkins said, he put his hand in his pocket and drew out a plastic bag containing 37 tablets. Four more
were found on him when he was searched, the garda said.
These were later tested and it was confirmed that they were the drug ecstasy.
The garda agreed with Patrick Whyms, BL, defending that Moore seemed “genuinely shocked” to learn how many tablets he possessed.
‘He said that he had bought what he thought was 20 tablets for his own use,’ Garda Jenkins said. The garda agreed that the price of the drug var- ied and would be on sale in Dublin
for about €5 a tab while bulk-buying of tablets often involved discount.
“He agreed during interview when it was put to him that this was the sale of the century,” Garda Jenkins Sr AKOE
Moore pleaded guilty to posses- sion of the drug. Mr Whyms told the court that his client had built up a courier business which was earning good money and which employed two people paying PRSI and PAYE.
‘‘He’s a young man who drifted into using soft drugs. He came to Ennis
with his girlfriend for the weekend. It was their first weekend away to- gether. He bought the tablets for his own use,’ Mr Whyms said.
“At the time he was using ecstasy quite a bit. This was a turning point for him. He was arrested, spent the night in the Garda station and never saw the girl again. Since this hap- pened he has addressed his problem and has never taken ecstasy again.”
After hearing Moore’s business had a turnover of €140,000 per annum, the judge fined him €1,000.