Letterkenny man sent to prison after endangering Garda and dealing cocaine

A Letterkenny man who drove a car at a Garda and was later caught in the centre of a major cocaine dealing probe has been jailed for six-and-a-half years.

Michael Connors, who admitted a catalogue of serious offences, including endangerment, drug-dealing and money laundering, was also given a 10-year driving ban when he was sentenced at Letterkenny Circuit Court. 

Connors, now 23, was on bail for an incident in which he struck a Garda with a motor vehicle when he was stung in an undercover operation.

Connors, with an address at Ballymacool Wood, Letterkenny and now of Cashelshanaghan, Letterkenny, was found to have been lavishly spending on trips to boxing in the Middle East as well as expensive purchases from Louis Vuitton and Brown Thomas during a time when he was in receipt of Social Welfare.

Detective Sergeant Gerry Farry and Garda Anthony Marren, were carrying out enquiries on November 17, 2020 when Garda Marren attempted to chat to Connors, who tried to flee from the officers.

Connors got into his car and while Garda Marren put out his left arm to signal Connors to stop, the defendant began revving the car and spinning the wheels.

Garda Marren moved away from the front of the vehicle, narrowly avoiding being run over, but he was struck on the body, causing him to spin and fall.

Detective Sergeant Farry said he recognised Connors as the sole occupant of the vehicle and he told the court that Connors blew the horn as he passed him.

While counsel for Connors said the accused did not know that Garda Marren was an undercover member of the force, Detective Sergeant Farry said his colleague was wearing a stab vest with ‘Garda’ written on it and was also wearing a Garda utility belt.

Connors, who has three previous convictions, pleaded guilty to a charge of endangerment and to a charge of dangerous driving.

Connors’ barrister, Mr Peter Nolan BL, said that his client had just passed his driving test the same day and felt “a sense of achievement”.

Mr Nolan said at the time Connors felt “under threat”, relating to things said on social media, and he was being “extra vigilant”. He added that Connors insisted that he had driven “around” the male who he said came running towards him.

Detective Sergeant Gerry Farry. (North West Newspix)

A probation report said that Connors was “at variance” with the prosecution account as it had indicated the impossibility of driving around the Garda due to the presence of two parked vehicles.

Mr Nolan said Connors lives with his wife and two children and the family are on the waiting list for a Council house.

He said Connors showed promise as a boxer in his younger years and is now a “devoted” father-of-two who also coaches young boys in the gym.

Connors also pleaded guilty to a charge of money laundering of property, being the proceeds of criminal conduct; to a charge of unlawfully having possession of a controlled drug, cocaine, for the purpose of unlawfully selling or otherwise supplying it to another; and to being the occupier of a vehicle and allowing the sale, supply or distribution of a controlled drug, cocaine.

Connors was nabbed as part of an investigation carried out by local Gardai supported by a national undercover unit.

Contact was made by one undercover member with a Snapchat account on September 28, 2021 and an arrangement made to purchase cocaine. 

On January 22, 2022, a Garda from an undercover unit contacted the same Snapchat account and arranged to buy cocaine. A Volkswagen Passat being driven by Connors pulled up and a female handed the undercover detective a ziplock bag containing cocaine. 

Detectives obtained bank accounts relating to Connors and discovered that 53 lodgements totalling €20,821 had been made to an account at Permanent TSB. 

Among the other transactions the accounts showed were €909.89 to Love Holidays, €1,790 to Louis Vuitton and a large payment to Brown Thomas. A large payment for dental surgery was carried out while Connors was also believed to have travelled to Dubai for a professional boxing show.

At the time, he was receiving €112 a week and this rose to €250 per week in Jobseekers payment while he was also receiving €140 per month for child benefit. 

“He was a young man at the time of the offences - and still is,” Mr Simon Gillespie BL said. “He felt that he had no money. He wasn’t in debt, but had limited disposable income. He was susceptible at the time to social media influence and felt envious of others who had nice clothes and material things.”

In passing sentence, Judge John Aylmer said he was satisfied that Connors knew Garda Marren.

“You could have caused him far more serious injury or killed him, more likely,” Judge Aylmer said. “He was very fortunate to survive.”

Judge Aylmer set a headline sentence of seven years on the endangerment charge and one of six months on the dangerous driving matter. The judge said the offences were “at the higher most end” of the scale.

A probation report on Connors placed him at a moderate risk of reoffending.

Noting that Connors was a young man with “little relevant” previous at the time and entered an albeit late guilty plea, Judge Aylmer reduced the sentences to five-and-a-half years for endangerment and five months for dangerous driving. The sentences are to run concurrently and Connors was put off the road for 10 years.

Judge Aylmer said it was an aggravating feature that Connors was on bail for the previous offences when he was caught drug-dealing in the undercover sting. 

Judge John Aylmer. (North West Newspix)

He said Connors was dealing in cocaine “in a very significant way” at the time. He said the drug dealing, money laundering and allowing his vehicle to be used for the sale of drugs each merited a starting point of five years in prison.

Judge Aylmer said he believed Connors has “settled down” and this was an unusual case as Connors is a member of the Travelling community, from a deprived background and with a difficult upbringing, but who has offered hope that he can turn to a crime-free life.

“You show reasons for optimism,” Judge Aylmer said, but added that he could not countenance a non-custodial sentence on these matters.

An early plea was helpful, he remarked, given that a book of evidence relating to a number of accused persons stretched to around 800 pages. 

He reduced the sentences on these matters to three years imprisonment on each count. Judge Aylmer suspended the last two years on Connors entering a bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for two years after he gets out of prison and on condition that he go under the supervision of the Probation Service for 12 months following his release.

Family members watched from the rear of the courtroom as Connors, dressed in a blue jumper and jeans, was placed in handcuffs and led away to begin his term in prison.