Cork teen turns life around after mother's tip-off leads gardaí to €25k of cannabis in rucksack

The mother feared that her son’s life was out of control, but Paul Montgomery has turned his life around significantly since the incident

Friends contacted the then-teenager by Snapchat to arrange the purchase of cannabis. File picture: Getty

A mother feared that her teenage son’s life was so out of control that she wondered if he would be “dead or alive” when she returned home and she called the gardaí who arrived to find over €25,000 worth of cannabis in a rucksack in his bedroom.

Paul Montgomery was 19 at the time and is now 21 and has turned his life around significantly since the incident when his life had spiralled out of control and he had been sucked into the vortex of drugs, his senior counsel, Tom Creed, said at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Garda Chris Campbell responded to a call from Margaret Kennelly to come to her home at Convent Lane, Bishopstown, Cork, back on September 26, 2020. “I met Paul Montgomery and his mother, and she expressed concerns to me about his use of drugs and we were invited into his bedroom to search his room. A rucksack was pointed out to us, and it contained cannabis to a value of €25,500,” Garda Campbell said.

Initially, the teenager was not co-operative when questioned but in a second interview he made admissions to the sale or supply of cannabis. €1,700 in cash was also found together with a weighing-scales, large and small baggies, and a knife for cutting up and dividing the cannabis. 

“I don’t believe he was making money – I believe it was just something he got caught up in. He was 19 then. He was involved with a group who were known to the gardaí, but he is not involved with this group anymore,” Garda Campbell said.

Friends contacted him by Snapchat to arrange the purchase of cannabis. He had no previous convictions. Garda Campbell said the young man was now in college and had the support of his family.

Mr Creed SC said: “When you arrived at the house it was a fairly fraught situation. You thought you were coming to a domestic incident. 

His mother was up to high-doh because of his behaviour. She said matters had got completely out of hand and her son had cannabis in his bedroom. She invited gardaí onto the premises.

“Gardaí asked him about the source of the drugs, but he feared for himself and his family if he divulged that. You (gardaí) accept that as a genuine situation. These people can be quite threatening.” Garda Campbell agreed.

Ms Kenneally gave evidence that her son started using cannabis at the age of 15 or 16. He had been doing well in school up to that point, but this changed. “He was not the Paul that we knew. Paul was smoking a lot of cannabis. He was hiding things, he wasn’t telling the truth. He was involved with people you would wish your kind would never get involved with. 

That evening I went to his bedroom. I was afraid – I didn’t know if I was going to find him dead or alive. He was looking in the window. I knew he was raging I had entered his room.

Mr Creed asked: “Did you know about the rucksack?” She replied, “I didn’t know anything. I rang the guards. He (the defendant) knew he was in serious difficulty with the guards and the courts. From that point on, we started working together. He went to mental health services in October 2020.” 

He also addressed his addiction through residential and aftercare programmes. “Now he is very well in himself, very calm, very easy to live with – a pleasure to live with,” Ms Kenneally said. 

Mr Creed suggested, “Like the old Paul.” She agreed, saying: “Like the youngfella I had.” Judge Dara Hayes said it was a very serious matter involving a very large quantity of drugs. However, he agreed to adjourn sentencing for one year for him to remain under the probation service.