Garda claims man flushed drugs down toilet during Offaly search

A GARDA told Tullamore District Court he believed a man had flushed drugs down the toilet before his front door was breached by officers who had arrived to carry out a search.

Patrick Cullen, Norbury Woods, Tullamore, pleaded not guilty to a charge of impeding or obstructing gardai contrary to the Misuse of Drugs Act.

Garda John Dunning told the court that on November 5 last year he attended at the accused's address and found the door locked and saw Mr Cullen at an upstairs window.

Garda Dunning said he explained to the accused that he needed to open the door but by the time three or four minutes had passed it had not been opened so gardai breached it.

The garda said Mr Cullen exited a toilet which was flushing and told the gardai that he had been looking for his keys.

“It's my belief drugs were flushed down the toilet,” said Garda Dunning.

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He further detailed that a light was on after the gardai knocked on the door and gardai told him they had a search warrant.

Garda Dunning said he saw no keys. He had proceeded immediately up the stairs once the door had been breached.

No drugs were found and the court was told the gardai called to the house at 6.50pm.

Asked by David Nugent, BL, defending, how he knew it was three to four minutes before he entered the property after knocking, Garda Dunning said he had not timed it.

He said Mr Cullen had obstructed the gardai by not opening the door.

“If the guards came to my door I'd be opening it, I wouldn't be going to the toilet,” said Garda Dunning.

While there were no drugs at the scene there were “bags”, the garda added, saying that in his experience “drug dealers” flush drugs down the toilet.

Mr Nugent said there was no evidence of drugs before the court, nor was there evidence that Mr Cullen was a drug dealer.

Garda Dunning said he had not looked for what Mr Nugent referred to as “trace evidence” by taking swabs.

Garda Mark McCallon, who had been assisting Garda Dunning, gave evidence of seeing a male at a window and a “large pause” followed.

The light in the hall was never turned on and he believed the man upstairs knew “immediately” that they were gardai and it was a minute or a minute and a half by the time the door was breached.

In his own evidence Mr Cullen said it was dark and raining when he saw the people through the window and at first he did not recognise them as gardai.

Mr Cullen said he was just in from work and was using the bathroom and putting his work pants back on when the doorbell rang.

He was going to get his keys and had them in his hand when he met the gardai on the stairs.

Mr Cullen said the toilet flushes in four seconds and it takes the cistern two minutes to refill and was it still refilling when the gardai arrived.

Sergeant Brendan Kearns asked Mr Cullen why he did not proceed immediately to the door and the accused said he was just in from work having been on the road from 7am and wasn't expecting gardai to disrupt his evening.

He said he did “not have great vision”, even with his glasses, so when he realised it was gardai who were getting out of the car he answered them saying “Ok, give me a minute” but was not quick enough.

He said the minute to a minute or a half stated by Garda McCallon matched his timing.

Mr Nugent told Judge Cody that his client had not obstructed the gardai and they had not found anything in the search.

He referred to the evidence that something may have been in the bathroom as a “red herring” and said it the obstruction charge was an attempt to justify a warrant.

He said Mr Cullen had not wilfully obstructed the gardai.

Sergeant Kearns said he took offence to the defence's position that gardai were attempting to justify the warrant.

He said the nature of the obstruction or the impeding was that Mr Cullen had not opened the door after seeing the gardai outside.

Judge Cody said there were two elements to the alleged offence, the first being impeding a search and the second obstructing.

Impeding meant slowing things down and obstructing would mean doing something more wilful to obstruct or frustrate the search.

He said he did not accept Mr Cullen's evidence that it somehow took him a minute or a minute and a half at best, or three to four minutes, “to pull up your trousers” and go from a bedroom to the top of the landing.

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That would only be 10 to 15 feet and would only take five or six seconds so the court was not satisfied the accused was acting appropriately and was in fact impeding or slowing down the operation of the search.

After the judge convicted Mr Cullen the court was told by Sergeant Kearns the man had 54 previous convictions and had received a suspended sentence for burglary in March 2022 at Limerick Circuit Court.

He had also been convicted of theft in 2019 in Limerick, burglary and criminal damage in Kilmallock in 2018 and robbery the same year.

In all he had 31 convictions for theft, eight for criminal damage and five for assault.

Mr Nugent said the man was currently working as a construction assistant and had undergone training in security work.

Defence counsel added that “for the most part” Mr Cullen had turned his life around and had regularised it and put structure on it.

In relation to the charge he had been convicted of, Mr Nugent said the accused had not been belligerent or wilful when the gardai arrived.

Judge Cody imposed a two-month sentence and suspended it for two years. He also fixed recognisances for an appeal.