Gardaí found designer drugs at student 'party house,' Waterford District Court hears
Waterford Courthouse.
A 21-year-old accounting student has been fined €1,200 at Waterford District Court for drugs, his solicitor said belonged to a “party house”.
Dylan O’Connor (21) of Mullagh, Ballyneale, Carrick on Suir, Co Tipperary pleaded guilty to two counts of possession with intent to sell or supply and two counts of possession of drugs at a sitting before Judge Fiona Brennan.
Sergeant John Phelan told the court that on June 11, 2024, gardaí executed a warrant at Riverwalk Apartments and found €3,426 of MDMA and €1,040 worth of tablets.
The defendant admitted to gardaí that he owned the drugs but said they were bought in bulk for his personal use.
The court was told that the defendant had no previous convictions but had been given the benefit of a donation to the court poor box for a previous charge.
Acting for the defendant, solicitor Hilary Delahunty said that his client had bought the drugs with others but did not want to implicate his friends and so had no choice but to plead guilty.
He said that other than that, his client cooperated fully with gardaí.
Mr Delahunty said that his client, who is an accounting student, was raised in a rural area and “thrown into an urban area” for the first time in college.
“He was having an absolutely fantastic time, but unfortunately, the gardaí got wind of this party house,” said Mr Delahunty.
The solicitor said that a conviction would jeopardise his client’s career and that even he would not hire an accountant with a conviction for sale or supply.
He said the drugs found in his client’s room were not “class A” but rather ecstasy and a designer drug that is “all the rage with students”.
Mr Delahunty asked that the judge give the defendant another chance to donate to the court poor box and avoid a conviction.
Judge Brennan said that she didn’t think it was reasonable to expect that, having been caught with almost €4,500 worth of drugs that the defendant would expect to avoid a conviction.
She pointed out that while he may have cooperated with gardaí, he said they were his own drugs, which was not the argument now being made.
She asked Sgt Phelan if the gardaí accepted that they belonged to multiple people, to which he responded, “I wouldn’t say that was the case”.
Sgt Phelan said his reading of the report suggested gardaí were targeting the defendant and knew exactly which room to search.
Judge Brennan said she was not satisfied with the defence’s argument and “simply put to this court's mind, it does not add up”.
The judge imposed two €600 fines for the sale and supply charge and gave the defendant six months to pay.
She took the possession charges into consideration and ordered the drugs to be destroyed.
