Offaly man put bags of suspected drugs into mouth to conceal from Garda

A DEFENDANT was charged with trying to conceal a suspected drug from a Garda, last week's Tullamore District Court sitting heard.

Before the court was Edward Kelly, 34 McAuley Drive, Birr, and he committed the offence on May 14 last on Model School Road, Birr.

The 49 year old man was charged with being in possession of drugs for the purpose of sale or supply. He was also charged with “placing numerous deal bags of suspected drugs into mouth and tried to conceal them from Garda.”

Sergeant Richard Thornton told the Court that the Garda stopped Mr Kelly's car at 9am on May 14 and saw him putting the bags into his mouth.

After a search of the defendant the Guard found that he had €680 of one drug and €20 of another. Sergeant Thornton said the defendant had four previous convictions including a conviction for the possession of drugs for sale or supply.

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The defending solicitor Patrick Martin told the court that his client is single and for a four year period from 2019 to 2023 he was “off the drugs”. However, following a tragic car accident in Turkey he had slipped back into taking drugs. Mr Martin added that Mr Kelly had a heart issue and was suffering from cancer. He also recently had a double knee replacement. He is also on a daily 75 millilitre dose of methadone.

The solicitor pointed out that Mr Kelly “fully cooperated” with the Garda on the day. “He tells me that he is fully committed to dealing with his addiction issue.”

Judge Andrew Cody convicted for the sale or supply offence. He said this was Mr Kelly's third conviction for sale or supply therefore he would sentence him to prison. He sentenced to nine months in prison. The other charge was taken into consideration.

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