Kildare gardaí found cannabis and cash on kitchen table

A quantity of cannabis as well as cash were found on a kitchen table in a house in north Kildare, Naas District Court was told.

A woman who was in the house at the time gardaí went there was prosecuted for possessing the drug.

The woman cannot be named because her son, a teen aged under 18 at the time, owned the drugs, it was claimed during the hearing. He cannot be identified.

Garda Michael Freyne said that around noon  on March 9, 2023, he met the woman coming from the kitchen and found cannabis on the table as well as upstairs, along with €380 and weighing scales.

The garda said the value of the drug was around €6,600 and the woman was arrested, interviewed and charged. When charged he said she did not reply.

Cross examined by solicitor David Powderly, Gda Freyne said the defendant’s son had also been charged and the original allegation was struck out because an analysis result relating to the drugs had not come back.

The woman’s home was the subject of surveillance.

He also said the woman had indicated that the son leaves cannabis in the house, has no respect for her and was going in for treatment.

The woman also indicated that the son had left the home earlier that day to go to school.

She also said she doesn't know where he got the drugs and the issue “causes rows in the house.”

When asked by the garda if her fingerprints would be on the bags she said “definitely not.”

The defendant told the court that he was just out of hospital the day before following surgery and her son left shortly before the gardaí came. She said she opposes her son’s involvement in drugs and just wants him “to lead a normal life.”

She said he had been to residential treatment twice but left after a short period on both occasions.

“I hate it, it’s destroying his life,” she added.

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She said he owned all the drugs and she would not know how to deal drugs adding “he doesn’t listen, he doesn’t respect my rules.”

She added: “I’m dead against drug dealing, I work hard for a living.”

Mr Powderly said the person who should be before the court is her son and said she had nothing to do with drugs. He added that fingerprints were not taken to establish if the woman’s prints were on the bags containing the drugs.

The woman had no previous convictions.

Judge Michael Ramsey adjourned the matter to allow the women to make a charitable donation of €500.