Woman who hid heroin in baby's pram when gardaí raided home remanded on bail

A mother of four who hid almost €40,000 worth of heroin in a baby’s pram when gardaí raided her home has been remanded on bail pending sentence by Judge Katherine Delahunt.

Elizabeth Keogh (aged 36) of Sillogue Road, Ballymun, described herself as "a mug" when gardaí told her the value of the drugs. She claimed she had been holding them for someone else.

She pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of heroin, valued at €38,030 for sale or supply on September 18, 2007. Her six previous convictions included mainly larceny and dated back to 1990.

Judge Delahunt adjourned the case to November and ordered a probation report and urine analysis.

Sergeant Noeleen McKenna told Ms Cathleen Noctor BL, prosecuting, that she received a call from an unknown person on September 17, 2007, who claimed that a gun and drugs were being held in a flat on Sillogue Road.

Keogh answered the door to gardai when they searched her rented home the following day and later confirmed that the drugs were heroin. She said she had placed the two bags in the pram when she heard gardaí knocking.

Sgt McKenna agreed with Mr Cormac Quinn BL, defending, that Keogh’s children ranged in age from two to 17 years old and they were all well cared for.

She accepted that Keogh had shown genuine remorse and although she had a drug problem at the time she had started to make some progress in her attempts to deal with it.

Sgt McKenna further accepted that Keogh was an "unusual person" to get involved in such an offence and was unlikely to come before the courts again.