Portlaoise Court: Local teenager who came from a wealthy family was selling drugs
Portlaoise Courthouse
A TEENAGER was told by Judge Andrew Cody at the juvenile sitting of Portlaoise District Court last week that if he failed to provide clean urine tests for the next five months that he would be sent to the Midlands Prison.
The youth, who cannot be named due to his age, was charged with possessing cocaine and ketamine worth €15,295 at a location in Portlaoise on 8 May 2023.
Sergeant Eoin Gardiner said that when gardaí searched the now 17-year-old’s house under warrant, they found the drugs under his bed.
He said the young man “was very immature at the time when I first met him, but he is certainly a different person in the past few months”.
Defending barrister Suzanne Dooner said her client had told gardaí at the time that he was holding the drugs for another person.
Sgt. Gardiner said that the young man “came from a very wealthy family in Syria who owned a shopping mall that was bombed. His father got injured and they came to live in Ireland. He was used to a certain way of life in Syria, but he seems to be adjusting to the way of life here now. He hasn’t come to the attention of gardaí since the incident”.
Judge Cody said: “€15,000 worth of drugs would have brought nothing but misery to the town of Portlaoise. It’s the same all over the country. It leads to intimidation, family break-ups, assaults and deaths.” He went on to adjourn the case to 27 July and warned the youth that if he failed to provide clean urine samples between now and then that he would be sentenced and sent to the Midlands Prison.
