Sheltered drugs worth €21,097 in his shed in Co Carlow
Carlow Courthouse
A CARLOW man found sheltering €21,097 worth of cannabis in his shed was given a three-year suspended sentence by Judge Eugene O’Kelly at a sitting of Carlow Circuit Court.
Det Garda Steve Delaney gave evidence to the court that a search warrant was issued for the home of Colm Cody (41), Augha, Muine Bheag, Carlow on foot of intelligence and monitoring of the drugs trade. Gardaí executed the search on 28 November 2023 and found a total of 1,054g of cannabis in his bedroom and shed, 193 tablets of MDMA worth €1,930 and 379g of cocaine worth €656.
Mr Cody was cautioned at the scene and accepted responsibility for the drugs. He said the cannabis found in his bedroom and some of the MDMA was for his own use and that he had agreed to store the larger quantity of drugs for others in return for some of the cannabis.
He said this arrangement was ongoing since August or September 2023 and arose because he couldn’t afford to feed his own habit. He claimed he had been threatened severely by persons to store the drugs and denied supplying the drugs himself.
He presented himself by appointment at Carlow Garda Station for arrest in January 2024. He pleaded guilty to a single count of possession of drugs for the purposes of sale or supply under section 15 of the .
Judge O’Kelly asked the detective whether the gardaí accepted that Mr Cody was storing the drugs under threat, to which Det Shields said they did.
Outlining the circumstances of the offence, defence barrister Colman Cody said his client was living with his two daughters and one of them was seriously ill. He said Mr Cody had been going through a divorce, was at risk of losing his job and suffering from depression at the time of the offence. He has no previous convictions and is now the primary carer for his daughter, said his barrister.
“It is extraordinary that someone with such a seriously ill daughter would engage himself in this activity,” Judge O’Kelly commented.
Noting Mr Cody’s engagement with a drugs awareness programme, the judge handed down a three-years prison sentence, suspended in full, on the condition that he remain under the supervision of the Probation Service for the first year and follow its directions.
