A MAN who tried to sell his own ‘hooch’ on Facebook ended up conversing with a Revenue official online who pretended they were interested in buying his alcohol, a court heard last week.
Achim Marcu of 6 Upper Convent Hill pleaded guilty at Bandon District Court to having 44 litres of alcohol without paying the necessary tax, in a prosecution taken out by the Revenue Commissioners.
Revenue inspector, Georgina O’Doherty told Judge James McNulty that on January 18th the defendant was offering to sell alcohol on Facebook.
They made contact with him on messenger and offered him €25 for a litre of alcohol.
They in turn found out his details and on January 26th, officers seized the alcohol at his home in Bandon.
‘The drink was in plastic bottles and was home-made in Romania and he brought it over in his suitcase. The loss to the exchequer was €991,’ she said.
Solicitor Plunkett Taaffe said his client, who is a farm labourer with no previous convictions, had gone home to Romania and brought the alcohol back in his suitcase.
‘He put an ad up on Facebook to sell it and he was surprised to get an offer of €25 for it. He just didn’t know what he was getting himself into,’ said Mr Taaffe.
Judge McNulty said that this was clearly a ‘very bad error of judgement’ and directed him to pay €2,500 by May 20th, 2024 after being told that the maximum fine he could impose was €5,000.
