Galway man gets six years for smuggling drugs

A Galway man who claimed he unknowingly smuggled drugs into the country after agreeing to carry home a bag of clothes for a girl he met has received a six-year sentence with one suspended.

James McCarthy (aged 44) of Michael Collins Road, Mervue, Galway pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of €17,000 worth of cannabis in Dublin Airport on March 26, 2008.

Judge Katherine Delahunt noted McCarthy “told a fairy tale” to gardaí about his involvement in the offence.

Garda Trevor Bulger told Ms Marie Torrens BL, prosecuting, that McCarthy had gone on a short holiday to Amsterdam and was looking for somewhere to stay when he ran into another Irish man.

The man said McCarthy could stay at his apartment and the two went back and started drinking and taking cocaine. He said they spent an entire day and night drinking and taking drugs.

McCarthy got talking to a girl who asked him to take a bag of clothes home to someone in Ireland. He agreed and got his flight the next day with the bag.

He was searched by customs officers who found eight packages of cannabis hidden under the clothes in the bag the woman gave him. He was arrested and interviewed but he denied knowledge of the drugs.

Gda Bulger said McCarthy had several “drink related” previous convictions but no significant ones. He said he was a father of two and had a drink and drug problem.

Defence counsel, Mr Remy Farrell BL, added that he suffered from severe depression which he was attempting to seek treatment for.