Motorist caught with drugs in her system

CANNABIS and cocaine showed up in the system of a motorist from the north Wicklow area arrested in the County Wexford town of Enniscorthy after her vehicle was seen being driven erratically.

Ashleigh Gerges Saad (32), with an address at 30 Swanbrook, Southern Cross Road, Bray, accepted that she was driving on the Island Road under the influence of intoxicant.

Illicit drugs worth €30 came to light in the vehicle after she was arrested on the morning of July 25 last year.

Ms Saad came to the District Court sitting in Gorey last Thursday with her parents and was represented before Judge Gerard Haughton by solicitor David Tarrant. He said that what occurred was a tragic sit- uation and a ‘ total wake-up call’, as he put it, for the defendant.

Mr Tarrant said that his client fell under the influence at this time of a partner who was involved with drugs. She was now back living with her parents and the relationship had broken up, he said.

‘She fell into the wrong company and everything went haywire for a month or two,’ said the solicitor.

The judge accepted that the circumstances were exceptional as he handed down a fine of €500 for the drug-drive offence and he also put her off the road for four years.

Ms Saad was given an opportunity to avoid a drugs conviction, once €500 is paid to the Cornmarket Project by November 1.