'What example is that to your children' judge asks Kilkenny man convicted of drug supply

What example is a father giving to his own children’ when he is charged with drug possession and drug supply charges, a judge has asked as a suspended custodial sentence was handed down for the offences.

Before Kilkenny District Court was Patrick Smith, 75 Ashfield East, Kilkenny, who was charged with three counts of being in illegal possession of drugs and two counts of having drugs for sale or supply.

Sergeant Morgan O’Connor said that on September 18, 2023, gardaí in a marked patrol car observed Mr Smith on New Building Lane. They said they were going to search him and he handed over €180 of cannabis.

Mr Smith signed a garda memo to say it was cannabis and it was for his own, personal use.
Later on the same day gardaí saw Mr Smith and he was searched. He had three, plastic bags of cocaine, valued at €605, and a number of cannabis wraps, valued at €130.

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Mr Smith was also charged with being in illegal possession of drugs on September 9, 2023.
There were no previous convictions recorded against Mr Smith.

Solicitor Chris Hogan asked the court to give his client credit for cooperating with the gardaí.
In relation to the second incident, Mr Hogan said his client had been sitting on a wall when the gardaí drove past. The drugs were in a bag a few feet away.

The solicitor said Mr Smith had explained he plays poker with a group of friends once a month and they take it in turns to bring the drugs.
His client was not selling the drugs but he was supplying it to his friends, it was admitted.

Mr Hogan said the defendant is no longer playing poker.
Mr Smith was not working at the time but is now in full time employment.

He is the father of six children, the solicitor said, and he has learned a salutary lesson. Mr Smith is no longer using drugs.

‘I don’t know which is worse, the poker or the drugs,’ Judge Geradine Carthy said.
‘One would have to ask what example a father is showing to his own children,’ she added.

Cocaine is a class A drug and the charges were serious no matter what the value of the drugs, she said in response to Mr Hogan’s point that the value was small so the offence was at the lower end of the scale.

Convicting Mr Smith on a charge of having drugs for sale or supply, the judge imposed a 10 month prison sentence, to be suspended for 12 months on the condition he engage with the Probation Service and take part in a drugs awareness course.
The other charges were taken into consideration.
A destruction order was issued for the seized drugs.