Michael Eamon McCaffery (50) of Galloon Gardens in Newtownbutler appeared at Enniskillen Magistrates Court on Monday on charges of possession of a Class B drug and two counts of possession of Class A drugs. 

Police had called to an address at Galloon Gardens on April 5 last year, where they found brown resin, which turned out to be cannabis, in a tobacco tin, a small bag of white powder, which was cocaine, and four small tablets. No exact valuation was given for the drugs, however the court was told the amount of each was small. 

Defence solicitor Myles McManus said McCaffery, the sole carer for his teenage child, was “in no doubt this is a serious matter” and said he accepted responsibility for the charges. Mr McManus said while there McCaffery was “definitely no stranger to the court”, his previous record of offending had ended in 2011, adding the defendant’s three relevant previous convictions dated to the 1990s. 

District Judge Nigel Broderick said McCaffrey had a very poor record, and while the quantity of drugs found was quite small, he said they should not have been on the same premises as his teenage child. 

Judge Broderick sentenced McCaffrey to three months in prison, suspended for 12 months, and told him the only reason he wasn’t imposing an immediate custodial sentence was because the was the sole carer of a young person.