Woman caught with cannabis worth €58k in car boot had financial problems, court told

Gardaí attached to the divisional drug unit had stopped a grey car at Horgan’s Quay in Cork City, under the Misuse of Drugs Act, and found 2.9k cannabis in the boot of the vehicle.

A woman caught with €58,000 cannabis in the boot of her car in Cork transported the drugs while in financial difficulty, a court heard.

Emilia Korcz initially denied that she knew what was in the box in her boot, but later admitted to gardaí that she knew it was cannabis.

Financial difficulties pushed Korcz, who recently had a baby and had returned from weight loss surgery in Turkey, into carrying the drugs, the court heard.

Detective Garda Linda O’Keefe of Anglesea Street Garda Station said that Korcz had been found with 2.9k of cannabis herb worth some €58,000 in a box in the boot of her car.

Gardaí attached to the divisional drug unit had stopped a grey car at Horgan’s Quay in Cork City, under the Misuse of Drugs Act and found 2.9k cannabis in the boot of the vehicle.

She was arrested and detained at Mayfield Garda Station.

She was interviewed on four occasions. She initially denied knowing that what she was carrying was cannabis. But in her final interview with gardaí, she admitted that she knew it was cannabis. She also refused to provide the pin code to her Apple iPhone, Det Garda O’Keefe said.

Korcz, age 40, of 33 Riverbank, Poachers Gate, Carlow, had pleaded guilty to an offence under Section 15A of the Misuse of Drugs Act which can carry up to a sentence of life in prison.

Detective Garda O’Keefe said that she did not accept assertions by Korcz in her probation report about how she came to bring cannabis to Cork, stating that she met two men in a pub in Carlow who asked her to do it and she agreed to transport the drugs that night.

Background

The court heard that she was unemployed at the time and that she recently arrived back from Turkey following a gastric sleeve operation, a surgical weight-loss procedure to remove part of the stomach.

Her two adult sons are living with her and she recently had a baby who is now three months old, Cork Circuit Court heard.

Defence barrister Jane Hyland, SC, said that Ms Korcz is originally from Poland and had a “very unsettled childhood”.

Her mother gave birth to her when she was young, there was alcohol in the house, her mother married three times and died of lung cancer, Ms Hyland said.

She had a very limited relationship with her father who had alcohol problems and died aged 43.

She left home at age 15 and commenced a relationship with a man who she now has two sons in their early 20s with. But that relationship was “not good” and they separated five years ago. She struck up a relationship with another man but is currently single, Ms Hyland said.

She left school when she fell pregnant with no significant qualifications. She was working in a restaurant in Carlow town where she hopes to return after her maternity leave, Ms Hyland said.

“She said she had financial difficulties which is why she became involved [in transporting drugs]. She regrets hugely her involvement, she understands her position now,” Ms Hyland said.

“She instructs that this behaviour occurred in the context of financial difficulties, poor decision making” and meeting the wrong people, Ms Hyland said.

“This is a very serious situation for Ms Korcz.

“My application is to adjourn until February. The child is three months old. The child is currently with her sister who has a seven-month-old baby in Carlow. That is not tenable long term.

“Incarceration of Ms Korcz will have a significant impact on her child.” 

Ms Hyland asked that the case be adjourned “to give her more time with her child and the opportunity to show the courts that she has remained out of trouble".

'A very serious offence'

 Judge Helen Boyle warned that “this lady is probably going into custody at some stage.” 

Government “takes a very serious view” of a Section 15a drugs charge, Judge Boyle said.

“You seem to have been a transporter of drugs rather than a distributor.

“On the basis of the evidence that has been given, there is no evidence of the trappings of wealth.

“But a mule, a transporter, is still a very serious offence. The State takes it seriously.

“This was poor financial decision making but it was very poor indeed.

“But she doesn’t appear to have other charges, other things in her past.

“She will potentially need to make arrangements for her child.”

Judge Boyle adjourned the case until April 12.