Suspended sentence for heroin addict

A heroin addict who told gardai she had €4,600 worth of drugs so she could overdose because she had just been diagnosed with a long-term illness has been given a two-year suspended sentence.

Donna Loughrey (aged 35) of Mourne Road, Drimnagh also claimed that a scales, found on her during a garda search, was used for weighing jewellery rather than drugs.

She pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of the heroin for sale or supply on April 17, 2007. Her 18 previous convictions included a number of drug dealing offences.

Judge Frank O’Donnell said a medical report before the courts proved that Loughrey’s doctor seemed to be concerned about her health after she was diagnosed with a drug-related illness but she did not appear to want to cooperate with him.

He suspended the two-year prison term on condition that she liaise with the probation service, attend all her medical appointments and keep the peace and be of good behaviour for five years.

Sarah-Jane O’Callaghan BL, defending, told Judge O’Donnell that Loughrey had started using drugs when she was 14 years old after she left school to help her mother look after her younger siblings. She was using heroin by the time she was 17.

Detective Garda Shane Curtis told Mr Michael Bowman BL, prosecuting, that gardaí felt Loughrey was acting in a suspicious manner and approached her because they believed she had just bought drugs from a street dealer.

Det Gda Curtis said it was his opinion that Loughrey had bought the majority of the drugs for another person and her role was to transport them. He said she has not come to garda attention since.