Defendant tells court sharing drugs is like ‘giving somebody a cup of tea’

A man found in possession of drugs when stopped by Gardaí in Westport said that sharing drugs among friends is common and would be like ‘giving somebody a cup of tea’.
Michael Walsh of 120 Manor Village, Castlebar, was found guilty of possession of cannabis and cocaine and while the state made a case that he was supplying drugs, Judge Mary Devins found that this was not proven last week, and dismissed those charges.
The discovery was made after a routine traffic stop in Westport on October 14 2015, after a Garda did a check on his vehicle after seeing it on the Distillery Road and discovered no tax or insurance recorded against it. The car was stopped at Sheeaune, Westport, where Garda Naomi Sloyan said she smelt cannabis and the driver appeared nervous and agitated. Six wraps of cocaine and some cannabis, worth several hundred euros, were found in a subsequent search.
While denying at all times all accusations of supplying, the defendant said in a garda interview that he has in the past shared drugs with others. He told the court that this was taken to mean by Gardaí that he was supplying, which he said if he knew it would be interpreted like so, he would not have answered the question that way.
“Years ago you might be at a party and somebody would share with you. That is what I thought the garda meant with the question. If that is supplying then there is a lot of people supplying. I had no intention of supplying. I was just being honest in my answers, I did not know I would be charged with supply for that,” he said.

Interview
He had previously said in a garda interview that he had in the past shared drugs with friends.
“It is common that sort of thing, in my world it is like giving somebody a cup of tea,” he was quoted in court as having said, by Garda Sloyan, who was reading from his interview statement.
Mr Walsh said he had previously been in a well paid job and had some money saved, so he had bought a larger amount of drugs on the day he was detected, which was one of the first times he had done so. He said the sellers sell in individual packages [wraps], rather than in a single large amount, as they make more money that way.
Superintendent SeΡn Colleran suggested that the defendant knew where to get drugs, but he replied that ‘he just got lucky that week’. He said he is not a ‘serial drug user’ more of an ‘occasional drug user’, and that his life has changed a lot since he had a car crash. He said he could not assist in identifying the supplier, but wanted to change his life.
Judge Devins said the defendant appeared to live in a parallel world where sharing drugs was like having a cup of tea, and that while sale of drugs did not need to be proven to secure a conviction for supply of drugs, nonetheless she ruled that the prosecution ‘has not proven supply in the usual sense either’.
On hearing the defendant has ten previous convictions [almost all of which are over 14 years old and not taken into consideration] but was given 120 hours of community service after a conviction under the Misuse of Drugs Act last year, she said that he had failed to cooperate ‘in the real sense of the word’.
For possession of cannabis he was convicted and fined €300 and for possession of cocaine he was convicted and fined €500 and sentenced to three months in prison. Recognisances were fixed in the event of an appeal.