‘Texts were related to drug dealing’
John Coone, who was living at a house at Chapel St, Dunmanway, on November 29, 2012, denied yesterday he was guilty of having cannabis for sale or supply.
One of three tick-lists with names of known drug users and financial amounts after their names was found in a Mother’s Day card in the house.
Coone said yesterday, in his appeal against a district court one-year jail sentence at Cork Circuit Appeals Court, that of one tick-list that was shown to him in the witness box: “I never seen it before. It is not in my handwriting.”
Detective Garda Andrew Manning testified that out of thousands of texts found on Coone’s phone which was seized on that day, he compiled a list of about 30 texts which he said related to drug dealing.
The texts included the following:
“Hey John, (name) here, people asking is there anything around?”
“Can you get any more g?” Garda Manning explained that ‘g’ commonly referred to cannabis grass.
“Any white around?” This was explained as a common reference to cocaine.
Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said: “Whoever is sending or receiving these texts is clearly in the business of sale or supply of drugs.
“You would want to be blind, deaf, and dumb not to say that whoever is getting these or sending them is getting them in the business of supplying drugs.”
Coone complained that he was only caught with two small amounts of cannabis for his own use and yet he was convicted of supply.
“There is no large possession and I am done for sale or supply, there is no case in the country where someone is done for sale or supply with no big quantity of drugs,” Coone said from the witness box yesterday.
Judge Ó Donnabháin said: “The evidence against this man is overwhelming. I affirm the 12 months from the district court (on the dealing charge).”
Coone stood up in the witness box and said, “It is a disgrace. Can I apply for judicial review?”
Coone’s barrister, Peter O’Flynn, said he would discuss the case with the accused.
A concurrent six-month sentence was imposed on Coone for handling stolen furniture.
Inspector Fergal Foley said one of the detective’s colleagues was looking at photographs from the drugs case afterwards and he spotted furniture that had been stolen from a house.
