Woman caught with €800 worth of cannabis said it was meant to go into prison

A woman caught with €800 worth of cannabis in her car told gardaí the drugs were for transmission to Cork Prison.

Joseph Cuddigan, defending, clarified at Cork District Court today that Lorraine Creed of 4, Blackwater Grove, Togher, Cork, was not the person who would have taken the drugs to the prison.

He said what she was saying to gardaí was that the drugs had been given to her by an unnamed person and she was to give them to a second unnamed person and that this was directed by a prisoner in Cork Prison.

Creed, 39, was stopped a year ago on December 29, 2018, and her car and her home were searched.

She was before Cork District Court today where she pleaded guilty to two counts of having drugs for sale or supply in respect of drugs found in her car and at her home.

After hearing the evidence against her, Judge Olann Kelleher imposed an eight-month suspended jail term and a community service order of 200 hours instead of four months in prison.

Sergeant John Kelleher said gardaí saw the car driven by the accused at 4.30pm on the date and stopped it for the purpose of conducting a search. As soon as they did, there was a strong smell of cannabis from the car and Creed was informed that a search would be conducted. She immediately handed over €800 worth of cannabis.

A warrant was granted for the search of her home and a protein box was found in the kitchen containing a further €550 worth of cannabis.

“She admitted she collected drugs from one unknown person for collection from her and onward transmission to Cork Prison,” Sgt Kelleher said today. “She said the stuff at home was for herself and that she smoked 15 cannabis cigarettes a day.”

Mr Cuddigan said the drugs were not being sent into Cork Prison but what the defendant meant was that a person in Cork Prison was directing the movement of drugs outside prison on the streets.

Mr Cuddigan said that the accused had no previous drugs conviction and co-operated with the garda investigation.

“I would be asking, given her age, not to jail her,” the solicitor said, adding that she was highly unlikely to be before the court again and was now in employment.