Bag of heroin fell down Clonmel man’s trouser leg while gardai searched his flat, circuit court told

Gardai found €1516 worth of heroin in a Clonmel flat including one bag of the drug, which fell down the trouser leg of the 30 year-old occupant of the premises, Clonmel Circuit Court was told. 

Shane Fitzpatrick of Flat One, 103 Irishtown, Clonmel received a three years jail term with the final two years suspended at the circuit court after he pleaded guilty to possessing heroin at his home address for the purpose of selling or supplying it to others on June 28 last year. 

Judge Tom Teehan also imposed a concurrent six months suspended jail term on Mr Fitzpatrick for possessing heroin at the same location on the same date. 

Sgt. Kieran O'Regan told the court Garda John English obtained a warrant to search Mr Fitzpatrick's flat on June 28 last year. Mr Fitzpatrick was the only person present in the flat when they arrived. During the search they found four rocks of brown powder material. Gda. English saw a bag fall from the left leg of Mr Fitzpatrick's trousers and he attempted to kick it under a chair. The garda retrieved the bag and found it contained a number of bags of brown powder. The gardai also found two mobile phones that contained text messages indicating he was involved in the sale and supply of drugs. The total value of the heroin seized  was €1516.34. A digital weighing scales, a pipe and cash were also found in the flat. 

The gardai arrested Mr Fitzpatrick and he  admitted  the brown powder was heroin, which he purchased in Dublin. He admitted selling two bags of the drug and also admitted the mobile phones were used to organise the sale of the drug. 

Sgt. O'Regan said Mr Fitzpatrick was dealing heroin to feed his own heroin addiction. There was no evidence he accumulated wealth from dealing drugs. 

The defendant had 34 previous convictions including five for drugs possession, one for possessing drugs for the purpose of selling or supplying to others and seven for theft convictions. He also had  previous criminal damage convictions and convictions for breaching a barring order and trespass. The court heard Mr Fitzpatrick was in custody since January. 

Defence barrister Kevin Byrne said his client suffered from a serious heroin addiction and pointed out he pleaded guilty to these offences at the earliest opportunity. He submitted a written apology from his client and two letters from Merchants Quay drugs addiction treatment services, which Mr Fitzpatrick was attending while in custody. 

Shane Fitzpatrick told the court he was sorry for his actions. He said he had found counselling beneficial. He was now on methadone and his dependency on it has reduced. He  had memories of his father in prison and he didn't want his child to have those memories. 

Mr Byrne argued the offences committed by his client were at the lower end of the scale of such offences and it wouldn't be unusual for a case like this to be dealt with in the district court. 

His client came from a dysfunctional family. His father spent a lot of time in jail, which impacted on him. 

The barrister appealed to Judge Teehan to be as lenient as possible in the sentence he imposed and suggested a lengthy suspended jail term form part of the penalty. 

Judge Teehan said heroin had brought enormous dangerous consequences for society and if there weren't people dealing this drug then a great many of society's issues wouldn't be present. 

He accepted Sgt. O'Regan's evidence that Mr Fitzpatrick did not accumulate wealth through his activities and he regarded the offences to be at lower end of the scale of such offences. He took into account Mr Fitzpatrick's early guilty plea but also noted the defendant was "caught red-handed". 

The Judge said the defendant had a tough childhood and adolescence and didn't have a postive father figure as a role model growing up. He  took into account the progress he has made in overcoming his drug addiction in imposing penalty.

Judge Teehan sought and received an undertaking from Mr Fitzpatrick that he will undertake a residential drug addiction treatment course on his release from prison. The judge said he believed this treatment was essential to achieve a full recovery from heroin addiction. 

He suspended the final two years of the three year prison sentence he imposed on the defendant on condition he refrained from ingesting alcohol or drugs and continues to engage with the drug addiction services during the period of the sentence suspension. He backdated the commencement of the  prison term to January 25 when Mr Fitzpatrick went into custody.