Italian to plead guilty over drugs found in Cork flat

Cork District Court Judge Mary Dorgan remanded Owayne Ventura in custody until November 8.

An Italian national who is accused of having stashes of cocaine and cannabis with a street value of €246,000 at his flat in Cork city has indicated that he would be pleading guilty to all charges against him.

Judge Mary Dorgan remanded Owayne Ventura in custody until November 8 on the application of Sergeant Aisling Murphy at Cork District Court to allow time for directions to be obtained from the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Defence solicitor Diarmuid Kelleher said that whatever the directions of the DPP the defendant will plead guilty to all charges against him arising out of the seizure.

Mr Ventura was refused bail when Detective Garda Dermot Crowley of the divisional drug unit in the city brought him before the court last week.

Mr Ventura, who was living at a flat on Rutland Place, Douglas St, Cork, faces four counts under the Misuse of Drugs Act. He is charged with having cannabis and cocaine and being in possession of the drugs for the purpose of sale or supply.

On his first court appearance, it emerged that he told gardaí he was holding the drugs for an organised crime gang but insisted he was not dealing drugs. The charges relate to Wednesday, October 11 when drugs unit gardaí went to the defendant’s home with a search warrant. It is alleged that they located a stash of drugs in his bedroom and another quantity of drugs in the hotpress of the flat.