'You should try it': Cork man caught with cannabis suggested gardaí cook with it, court told

Judge Boyle imposed a sentence of three years and four months with the final six months suspended

Gardaí found the €19,000 worth of cannabis two months after a stash of almost 10 times that amount was found. File picture

A drug-dealer caught with over €19,000 worth of cannabis at his home told arresting gardaí who uncovered the stash that he was going to cook with it and suggested to the officers: “You should try it.” 

Gardaí found this cannabis two months after a stash of almost 10 times that amount was found — and now the man who confessed to having the drugs on both occasions claimed that the second stash was there all along, but not found in the first search.

Gardaí disputed this claim made by PJ Meehan in respect of the second stash of cocaine found at 112 Comeragh Park, The Glen, Cork. The 29-year-old is already serving a jail term for the first stash of drugs. 

The relevance of the issue about whether he brought in the €19,000 worth of cannabis after the first search or it being there but not found the first time, was that it would affect the sentencing judge’s decision on the new sentence running concurrently with the old one or consecutively to it.

Sentencing

Judge Helen Boyle had this to say at the sentencing in Cork Circuit Criminal Court: “You say it is part of the same batch. On the basis of what occurred, I will view it as a continuation of the same offence. I will make the sentence concurrent.” 

Judge Boyle then imposed a sentence of three years and four months with the final six months suspended.

The charge states that on August 17, 2023, at the address in The Glen he had cannabis for sale or supply to others at a time its value exceeded €13,000.

Detective Garda Rory Fogarty gave evidence of finding over €19,000 worth of the drug in an upstairs bedroom along with baggies and a small amount of cocaine.

He told gardaí he was selling cannabis to feed a drugs habit and that what was found was part of a larger consignment six weeks earlier. He fled to England and returned in July 2025 and was sentenced for the larger stash shortly after his return.

Defence senior counsel Donal O’Sullivan said PJ Meehan went to England because he had a pretty large debt and he went there to try and get away from the trouble he was in.

Mr O’Sullivan said the second seizure of cannabis was left over and not discovered during the June 2023 search.