Nail bar owner and husband sentenced over €230k drug find
Home of Shellac on Dublin Street, Carlow Photo: michaelorourkephotography.ie
A NAIL SALON owner and her husband were both sentenced last week in Carlow Circuit Court after almost €230,000 worth of cannabis, cocaine and methamphetamine were discovered at their home and business.
Kamil Scibior, 128 Crossneen Manor, Leighlinbridge was sent to prison for six years after he pleaded guilty to a single count of section 15(a) of the , while his wife Edyta, also of the same address, received a fully suspended sentence after she pleaded guilty to two counts of section 15 under the .
Quantities of cannabis, cocaine and methamphetamines worth €229,000 were found at their home in Leighlinbridge and in Home of Shellac, Dublin Street, Carlow on 22 February 2023.
Mr Scibior (42) had claimed that he was given two boxes by a man in the street that he didn’t know, but Detective Garda Ian Roche told Judge Eugene O’Kelly that the drugs were found after an extensive investigation and that he believed Mr Scibior was at the upper echelons of a drug chain. He also said that he believed Ms Scibior (36) was involved in the drugs operation, but the court was told that she denied any involvement and said she wasn’t aware that there were drugs in her house or business.
Det Roche said the gardaí received intelligence in relation to the sale or supply of cocaine and that when they searched the Scibiors’ house, they found a large amount of drugs in the utility room. They arrested Ms Scibior and brought her to Carlow Garda Station and then searched Home of Shellac, where they found an even larger amount of drugs in a locked storeroom.
Det Roche said that when questioned by gardaí, Ms Scibior said she was unaware that there were drugs in either premises and that she did not use the utility room in her house because it was too cold in there. She told gardaí: “I bring my kids to school and I work. Have you ever seen me dealing drugs?”
She also said: “If I was you, I wouldn’t believe me either.”
Det Roche also gave evidence about Mr Scibior, telling the court that he claimed he was given the two boxes of drugs by a man in the street that he didn’t know, that he didn’t know there were drugs in them and that he was only going to hold on to them for a short time. Det Roche also said the defendant told gardaí that he had got the “smell of weed” in his house just before he was arrested, but denied selling drugs.
David Bulbulia SC for Mr Scibior told Judge O’Kelly that his client had taken responsibility for the drugs from the beginning and that his probation report found that he was in the lowest category for reoffending. He continued that he had a good work history but that he had lost his job because of the court case.
Mr Bulbulia also said that the couple each had a teenage boy from previous relationships and that Mr Scibior went to the garda station voluntarily when he heard that Ms Scibior had been arrested. The court heard that they were both Polish and that Ms Scibior would often return home to her elderly mother.
Aidan Doyle SC for Ms Scibior told the court that she was a businesswoman who employs six people in her nail salon and that she was also developing a cosmetic product in conjunction with a local university. He continued that she had initially pleaded guilty to a charge of allowing drugs to be on her premises but that this had been rejected by the prosecution and that she then pleaded guilty to section 15 (sale or supply of drugs).
Mr Doyle continued that her previous husband – the father of her child – had died in 2022 and that she was concerned about what would happen to her son and her stepson if she received a custodial sentence, because the teenagers were “extremely vulnerable”.
Sentencing Mr Scibior, Judge O’Kelly said it was “implausible” that he met a stranger in the street who gave him boxes of drugs and sentenced him to eight years’ imprisonment, which he then mitigated down to six years but said that he would not suspend any of the sentence.
With Ms Scibior, he mentioned the fact that the probation report said she did not take any responsibility for the drugs and that she employs a number of people in her business. He said that he read testimonial letters that had been handed into court about her and said they were “glowing”.
Judge O’Kelly sentenced her to four years and six months in prison, but said that he was conscious of her employees and the effect that a custodial term would have on the two children and her elderly mother. He then fully suspended the sentence and ordered her to enter into a bond and keep the peace for 18 months.
