Judge convicts Limerick man and wedding-goer of cocaine dealing

A JUDGE has convicted a wedding-goer of cocaine dealing after a garda told her that cocaine users would snort four or five lines of cocaine from a gram of cocaine.

At Ennis District Court, Judge Mary Larkin convicted David Keane, aged 30, of Island Rd, Assumpta Park, Limerick with possession of cocaine with intent to sell or supply on June 23, 2019.

Judge Larkin said that she would impose 100 hours community service on Mr Keane for the offence instead of a suspended prison term.

Mr Keane, the court heard, was attending a cousin’s wedding at the Bunratty Castle Hotel on the date and the drugs were found on him at Ennis garda station after his arrest on the night.

Mr Keane told gardai that the nine bags of cocaine, found concealed in his underwear, were for his personal use. Gardai also found €1,310 in cash on Mr Keane and two mobile phones.

During interview, a garda told Mr Keane that “this is a phenomenal amount of cocaine for one person”.

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Mr Keane replied: “I had an awful amount of cocaine taken.”

Mr Keane added: “I had no intention of selling drugs. It was my family at the wedding - I wouldn’t even let them know I had drugs.”

In evidence, Detective Garda Kevin Hooban told the court that the nine bags, comprising 8.5 grams of cocaine, with a street value of €580 were found on Mr Keane at the end of the wedding.

Detective Hooban told the court that “there is no possible way he could have taken that amount of drugs without being hospitalised” having already consumed other cocaine.

He told the court that it was his opinion that the nine bags of cocaine were the leftovers of what Mr Keane sold at the wedding and that the cash was the proceeds of sale and supply of the drugs.

Judge Larkin asked the detective how many lines would cocaine users snort from a gram of cocaine?.

In response, he said: “A good few people ask me this and I was only asked about this last week. It depends how thick the lines are but from what I gather you could get four or five lines from a gram.”

Judge Larkin said that she was "absolutely satisfied" and didn’t have a shadow of a doubt that Mr Keane had the cocaine to sell at the wedding over his failure to answer questions about the drugs.

Judge Larkin said: “He doesn’t know this and he doesn’t know that. I have no shadow of a doubt that he had the drugs there for one particular reason."

She noted that Mr Keane was unable to say how many grams he had before being found with the nine bags.

"If I go to a wedding, I would be buying a dress and a pair of shoes to get all fancied up - that would be my thing. I know how much the dress and the shoes would cost - how much gear did you get and how much did it cost you?”

Mr Keane said that he paid €300 but didn’t know how much cocaine he received.