Letterkenny man jailed for three months after being caught in possession of cocaine

A Letterkenny man has been jailed for three months after being caught in possession of cocaine in the centre of Letterkenny.

Michael Connors appeared at Letterkenny District Court by videolink from prison where he is already serving a sentence for drugs offences.

The 23-year-old was caught by Gardai in possession of €100 of cocaine when he was stopped at Kinnear Lane, off Letterkenny's Main Street, on December 22, 2023.

Garda Sergeant Jim Collins said Gardai saw the driver of a Volkswagen Passat acting suspiciously in the area and Connors was searched under the Misuse of Drugs Act. He was found to have €100 of cocaine on him which he said was for his own use.

The accused, with an address at Ballymacool Wood, Letterkenny and now of Cashelshanaghan, Letterkenny, is currently serving a six and a half year jail sentence for drug dealing and endangerment.

He was jailed last month for these offences at Letterkenny Circuit Court by Judge John Aylmer who said Connors was dealing in cocaine “in a very significant way” at the time.

The court heard that detectives believed Connors was involved in drug dealing in the town and launched an investigation into his dealings.

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.

Solicitor for the accused, Mr Rory O'Brien, said his client had admitted all his wrongdoings but a Probation Report carried out on Connors had been very positive and asked the court to be as lenient as possible.

Judge Emile Daly said that in light of the plea, that the accused was cooperative, that he saved the court time by pleading, she was imposing a sentence of three months in prison to run concurrently with his current sentence.