Enniskillen Court House, RMGFH03
A 40-year-old Lisnaskea ‘drug dealer’ has escaped jail after being convicted at Enniskillen Magistrates Court.
Mark Kiernan, of Main Street was discovered with various quantities of cannabis, cannabis resin, TFMPP, diazepam and temazepam and received a four month custodial sentence, suspended for two years.
The prosecutor outlined that on December 20, 2013 police conducted a search of a premises on Moorlough Road, Lisnaskea under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
Police made numerous seizures including; 54.046g of herbal cannabis, 15.71g of cannabis resin, 0.959g of trifluoromethylphenylpiperazine (TFMPP), 5mg of diazepam and 5mg of temazepam. Drug paraphernalia was also seized. The defendant was interviewed as was the householder, with Kiernan claiming responsibility for all the items seized, stating the householder had no knowledge of them. Kiernan said the drugs were for his personal use. The defendant’s mobile phone was also seized and later evidence came back of drug supply. When this evidence was put to Kiernan he replied: “No comment”.
District judge Nigel Broderick asked how many people the defendant had contacted in relation to the drugs and defence barrister Stephen Mooney said it was “more than one or two”, but not a large number.
The defence noted Kiernan’s guilty plea at the earliest opportunity, for an offence which usually attracts immediate custody.
He highlighted the “lamentable” delay in the case, with it taking over a year from the defendant being interviewed to getting the court papers. The prosecutor said this delay was partly due to attaining the phone records.
Mr Mooney said the case had been hanging over the defendant’s head for the best part of over 20 months and noted Kiernan’s modest criminal record solely for driving matters. The barrister said “any nominal period of imprisonment would not achieve anything”.
The district judge asked was the defendant getting treatment for his drug issues and Mr Mooney explained that Kiernan was still using to a small degree, but had sought help from his GP and was awaiting an appointment with the community addiction team.
The judge said these drug offences were very serious and said usually anyone involved in such matters should expect a custodial sentence. Due to the delay in the case however the judge imposed the suspended sentence and issued a destruction order for the drugs.
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