Cork man with intellectual disability pressured to hold drugs for dealers

A man with an intellectual disability had his Pokeman cards and other low value personal property taken by drug dealers who pressured him into holding onto a large consignment of ecstasy tablets that put him at risk of ten years in jail.

Judge Helen Boyle said, “This is one of the exceptional cases where a sentence can be fully suspended.” 

Judge Boyle imposed a suspended sentence of two and a half years on 27-year-old John Paul O’Regan of 60 Greenhills Court, Douglas, Cork, at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

The case arose out a drugs seizure on March 4 2021. 

Garda Shane Hayes said he and other uniformed gardaí were accompanied by members of the armed support unit for the purpose of the search.

“On arrival I spoke with John Paul O’Regan and informed him I had a warrant to search the premises. He said he would show gardaí where the drugs were. We went up to a bedroom where he retrieved a white bag inside a box and there were two bags located in this. Both bags contained blue tablets.

“During interview he stated he was given the drugs to mind by another person. He said they were in a bag and he never opened the bag,” Garda Hayes said.

Ray Boland asked Judge Boyle to take into consider the fact that the young man has diabetes and also has intellectual disabilities. Even though he is 27 years old, unusually he was accompanied throughout garda interviews by his father.

“He was holding these drugs. His belongings were taken off him and he was told they would be returned to him. They included his phone worth no more than €100 or €200, a chain, a watch and Pokeman cards which children play with.” Mr Boland said the accused and his father who is 81-years-old depend on each other in different ways.

“In light of the evidence I think it is clear the accused is a very vulnerable person preyed upon by other people in the drug trade to store these drugs. The guards were so concerned about him that they took the precaution of having the 27-year-old man accompanied by his elderly father (when interviewed),” Mr Boland said.

Judge Boyle expressed the hope that the young man was on the garda radar he would no longer be targeted for exploitation by unscrupulous people.

The defendant admitted being in possession of MDMA, better known as ecstasy, for sale or supply when its street value exceeded €13,000 – the threshold for a possible ten-year sentence on conviction unless there are exceptional circumstances.