Probation for man who grew skunk cannabis from seed
An Ashford man who found skunk seeds and decided to plant them has been put on a probation bond having pleaded guilty to possessing drugs and cultivating cannabis plants.
Niall O’Neill (34) of 6 Meadow View, Ashford, was charged with possession of drugs and cultivating cannabis and opium poppy plants at Flat 1, 34 Main Street, Rathdrum, on October 4 last year. He was also charged with theft from Centra in Rathdrum on July 5 this year.
Garda Richie Galvin told Rathdrum District Court that during a search of the flat the defendant was living in at the time he found a cannabis plant growing in a pot in the window.
On being questioned, O’Neill informed the Garda that it was a smoking plant’. He said he had found the seeds in some hash leaves and put them in a pot and watered them and they sprouted.
It was not a very successful enterprise. The plant did not look very healthy,’ Garda Galvin told the judge adding that the defendant was on a methadone programme.
Garda Conroy told the court that in July he got a call to Centra in Rathdrum where the management were holding O’Neill for stealing a can of Red Bull and a packet of apple turnovers.
Defence solicitor, David Tarrant, explained that his client was homeless at the time but he had since gone to live with his father. He took the good from the shop because he had no money and the plant was really a hobby he said.
Judge Donnchadh O Buachalla placed O’Neill on a probation bond for one year in the sum of €300.