Southern Star Ltd. logo
News

Bad parking in Macroom lands Beara fisherman with cannabis charge

February 29th, 2024 7:00 PM

Bad parking in Macroom lands Beara fisherman with cannabis charge Image

Share this article

BY DAVID FORSYTHE

DRUGS worth €800 were discovered in the car of a Beara fisherman who came to garda attention because he had parked his car awkwardly at a service station, a recent sitting of Macroom District Court was told.

The court heard that on January 21st 2023 at around 1pm gardaí observed a black Audi car badly parked at the Inver petrol station at Gurteenroe, Macroom.

When they spoke to the owner of the vehicle, Andreas Babic (46) of Toormore, Castletownbere, there was a strong smell of cannabis from the inside of the car.

The car was then searched and cannabis worth approximately €800 was discovered in a bag in the footwell of the vehicle.

The court heard that Mr Babic had two previous convictions, one for motoring offences, and one for a public order offence. It also transpired that at the time his car was searched he was banned from driving, a fact which Mr Babic said he was not aware of.

Defence solicitor Jack Purcell said his client was married and has a 12-year-old daughter. He said that Mr Babic had attended counselling to address his drug issues.

Judge James McNulty said: ‘You have a daughter, she will be a teenager soon, what are you going to tell her? There must be an awful smell in the house.’

Judge McNulty requested that Mr Babic provide a saliva sample and adjourned the case for one month to allow him to provide proof that he had attended counselling as he claimed.

Tags used in this article

Share this article