Carndonagh shopkeeper who sold vape to minor hit with €1,200 court costs and fines

A Carndonagh shopkeeper, who sold a vape to a minor last year, has been fined €200 and ordered to pay court costs of €1,000.

Ali Shan Azmat, owner of the ‘Phones & More’ shop at Bridge Street, Carndonagh, admitted the offence at Carndonagh District Court.

Judge Eiteain Cunningham said the sale of such products to children was “obviously a concern”.

Representing the HSE, solicitor Adam Doyle gave evidence in court.

He said a complaint was received on May 8, 2024 from Carndonagh Garda Station in relation to Mr Azmat and the sale of vapes to a person under-18.

Tobacco complaint inspections were then carried out by an environmental health officer on May 14, 2024 and again on May 30, 2024.

On both occasions, the health officer spoke with Mr Azmat at his premises and reminded him of his responsibilities.

A tobacco test purchase was subsequently undertaken at Phones & More on November 6, 2024, when a nicotine inhaling product was sold to a 16-year-old contrary to Section 28 of the Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Act 2023.

“An environmental health officer witnessed the member of staff, who was Mr Azmat, selling the product to the child,” Mr Doyle explained.

“He did not ask any questions to verify the age of the child,” concluded Mr Doyle, of Byrne, Wallace and Shields LLP.

The court heard that Mr Azmat has no previous convictions.

Defending the case, solicitor Frank Dorrian said the evidence was all accepted.

He conceded that the sale was unacceptable and has since explained to his client the importance of rigorous checks.

“He has signs up, and I have explained to him that ID is the key to all of this. He assures me and he assures the court that there will be no repeat of this.”

“There had been a fairly casual approach being adopted prior to this detection, but I can assure you that this prosecution has changed that,” Mr Dorrian added.

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Judge Cunningham said it was concerning that the sale was made by the owner himself.

“This wasn’t a situation where staff members didn’t follow training; this was the owner and that is obviously of concern.”

“Regarding the sale of these types of vaping apparatuses and all of these products to underage children, we have no idea about the health implications going forward, there just isn’t the research available – and it’s certainly something this court would be concerned about.”

The judge convicted Mr Azmat of the offence of selling a nicotine inhaling product to a child, and imposed a fine of €200.

“I fully appreciate that he has no previous convictions and that he has now learned his lesson in relation to this matter, but I am going to mark a conviction in all the circumstances,” she ruled.

Judge Cunningham also directed that the defendant contribute €1,000 towards the HSE costs in the prosecution.