North Cork Traffic Corps Garda commended by Judge for busting €56k drug ‘delivery’
Man he stopped given 18-month jail sentence over the December offence
A NORTH Cork garda has been commended by a judge for his police work after he stopped a speeding motorist near Mitchelstown only to discover that the young man had almost €40,000 worth of drugs in a binliner and almost another €20,000 strapped to his underpants.
Garda Peter O’Loughlin of the North Cork Traffic Corps was praised by Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin for his vigilance when he stopped Adeyinka Olamilekad Jarckel (22) of Hare Lawn Drive, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 for speeding at Kilshanny, Mitchelstown on the M8 and uncovered the drugs.
Garda O’Loughlin told Cork Circuit Criminal Court how he was operating a speed check on the M8 on December 10th when Jarckel drove in excess of the 120kph speed limit so he stopped him and noticed a smell of cannabis in the car.
He carried out a search of the car and found a black bin-liner bag containing three plastic wraps of cannabis herb with a street value of over €39,000 so he arrested Jarckel and in a follow up search at Fermoy Garda Station, gardai found €17,000 worth of cocaine strapped to his underpants.
When questioned, Jarckel said that a man in a red van had put the cannabis in the car and he told investigators that he was minding the cocaine for a second man and characterised himself simply as a delivery man who was bringing the drugs to Cork.
Cross-examining Garda O’Loughlin, defence counsel, Alice Fawsitt SC asked him if he agreed with this assessment of Jarckel and Garda O’Loughlin replied: “I did not think he was the main man but he was a bit more than the delivery driver.”
Ms Fawsitt said Jarckel had been a user of drugs himself and he had been working in a factory in Maynooth in Co
Kildare but had agreed to deliver the drugs to Cork in order to make some money for Christmas 2019.
She said he came from a hardworking family who moved to Ireland 25 years ago and he was born in Ireland, had no previous convictions and had never come to the attention of the gardai prior to this while a report from the Probation Service suggested he was at a low risk of re-offending.
Ms Fawsitt said Jarckel was now at a critical juncture in his life and she said this was the one opportunity he had to turn his life around if he was given a chance and she urged Judge Ó Donnabháin not to impose a custodial sentence, arguing that jail would be very hard on him.
However Judge Ó Donnabháin pointed out that the Court of Appeal had ruled that any drug seizure over €50,000 was to be viewed as a significant amount that merited a custodial sentence and the drugs in this case had a total value of over €56,000 which was substantial.
Judge Ó Donnabháin acknowledged that Jarckel was not previously known to gardaí or under observation or surveillance for suspected drugs activity and had it not been for the speeding on the M8 and the vigilance of Garda O’Loughlin he might not have been caught.
“He was stopped for speeding but in the course of being questioned by the guard, a certain odour was detected from the car and a search was carried out.
“There was a combination of drugs worth over €50,000 found in the car,” he said.
“He was conveying illicit drugs from Dublin to Cork. That is the extent of his involvement. He allowed himself to do that to make money and his attitude to taking drugs is honestly set out in the report by the Probation Service.
“The Probation Service feel he has a distance to go in terms of achieving a cessation in the use of cannabis and living a drug-free lifestyle, having had a distinct lack of awareness up to the time he went into custody but they think now he has a better appreciation of matters.”
Judge Ó Donnabháin said he had listened carefully to Ms Fawsitt’s submissions on behalf of her client but unfortunately for Jarckel he did not agree with her and he believed that he had to impose a custodial sentence to register the court’s view of the severity of the offence.
He sentenced Jarckel to three years in jail, backdated to November 23rd last when he first went into custody after pleading guilty to the charges and he suspended the final 18 months, leaving Jarckel with an 18 month sentence to serve.
THE controversial decision by Bank of Ireland to close 88 of its branches across the country, including two in the Duhallow region, has been branded as ‘disgraceful’ by the chair of the Kanturk Chamber of Commerce.
Kieran Fitzgerald has pulled no punches in his assessment of the move, saying he and many others within the business community regard the closure of the bank’s Millstreet and Kanturk branches as indicative of the scant regard the bank has for rural Ireland.
“We feel really let down by this decision, which has come as huge blow to not just the local business community but also the wider community across the Duhallow region. I have spent a lot of time on the phone over the past couple of days with members of the Chamber, and the overall feeling is one of disbelief and bitter disappointment,” said Mr Fitzgerald.
“To think that Bank of Ireland is proposing to have no actual presence in the Duhallow region is a disgraceful decision and one that really shows the little regard it has for the local business sector and the wider community here,” he added.
Mr Fitzgerald said Duhallow needs a Bank of Ireland branch and that suggesting the local post office will be able to cater for the needs of their existing clients was disingenuous at best.
“Speaking from a Chamber perspective, we have a great many members in the area of all sizes that rely on the services of a local bank branch, for example being able to make daily lodgements. In order to do that they will have to travel to Mallow, Charleville or Killarney, with the inconvenience that entails,” said Mr Fitzgerald.
“Banking online is not a realistic proposition for many rural businesses as a reliable broadband connection is not available in many areas. To suggest that the local post office, which is already stretched, will be able to cater for the demands that will be placed on it because of the branch closure is just not realistic and again shows how little regard Bank of Ireland has for the people of Duhallow.”
Mr Fitzgerald said that Kanturk has already been badly impacted by the closures of businesses due to the COVID pandemic, and the loss of another pivotal piece of commercial infrastructure would be a bitter pill to swallow.
“Rural Duhallow needs a bank branch, and we will do all that we possibly can to get this decision overturned,” he vowed.