Apprentice will be told ‘when to pee and pay'

A DISTRICT Court Judge told a 20-year-old man who was caught in the possession of cannabis earlier this year that the probation services will tell him ‘when to pee and pay’ over the next 12 months.

Judge James McNulty made the comment at a recent sitting of Bandon District Court when dealing with the case of Conor McGuinness of Ballinfarrig, Minane Bridge  who pleaded guilty to the possession of cannabis.

Sgt Paul Kelly told the court that at 10.25pm on January 23rd last while on patrol, Gda Richard O’Sullivan came across a car parked on the road. 

‘There were two male occupants inside and Gda O’Sullivan saw the front seat passenger fidgeting, and he was slow to pull down the window. When he approached the car he appeared nervous so Gda O’Sullivan carried out a search under the Misuse of Drugs Act and found a small quantity of cannabis inside,’ said Sgt Kelly.‘It was in a chewing gum tub and the defendant said it was for his own use and the estimated street value of it was €50.’

Defence solicitor Diarmuid O’Shea said his client is an apprentice mechanical engineer and has no previous convictions.

‘He wouldn’t be a regular user but is honest enough to say it wasn’t his first time,’ said Mr O’Shea.

Mr O’Shea said that he is always telling young lads that convictions for the possession of cannabis ‘can come back to haunt you’ and he referenced a recent high profile case of a Corkman who faces deportation from the United States.

Judge James McNulty asked about the defendant’s future plans regarding cannabis use and Mr McGuinness told him that he is never going near it again.‘I don’t want to be back and my employer doesn’t know that I am in court,’ said Mr McGuiness.

He told Judge McNulty that he works in the pharma industry which carries out random drug testing.

Judge McNulty said that it would be better if he told his employer about the court case.

‘Come clean and it’s better for you to tell them. If I was an employer I would want to know that all my employees on important sites are clean,’ said Judge McNulty.

Judge McNulty said he would put it out for a year and that in the meantime a probation report would be prepared with random urinalysis to take place over the next 12 months at the defendant’s own expense.

‘They will tell you when to pee and pay,’ said Judge McNulty.