Suspended sentence for cocaine possession at Portlaoise Garda Station

A suspended sentence was handed down to a man who was caught with cocaine twice in two weeks. 

Anthony Quinn, 31, of Camira, Mountmellick admitted possessing the drugs on two seperate dates in 2020 and one charge of breaching Covid regulations in 2021. 

Sgt Michael Tarpey said the accused was found in possession of €80 worth of cocaine at his address on June 12, 2020. A week later he was caught with €70 of cocaine at Portlaoise Garda Station. 

The man was in breach of Covid regulations when stopped by Gardai on the Mountrath Road in Abbeyleix on February 28 last year, said Sgt Tarpey. He said the man wouldn’t tell gardai where he was going on that occasion. 

Solicitor Philip Meagher said “he wouldn’t give an address of where he was going because he didn’t actually know where he was going.” 

“He had arranged to meet a lady and he hadn’t met her before and he wasn’t sure where he was going to meet her,” Mr Meagher said. He told the court the man had intended on calling the woman to arrange a location. 

Mr Meagher said the drug offences had occurred at the height of Covid when through boredom his client “began to dabble” in drugs. “He is no longer taking drugs,” he told the court. 

Judge Andrew Cody convicted the man and fined him €300 for the Covid breach, €200 for the first cocaine possession charge and he imposed a one month sentence, suspended for two years, on the second cocaine charge. Judge Cody fixed recognisance in case of appeal.