A MAN has been jailed at Limerick District Court for the possession of €90 worth of prescription drugs for sale or supply in the Clonlara area last May. 32-year-old David Heighton was the victim of a shooting in 2004 and lost an eye in the incident and at Limerick District Court last week, Judge Eamon O’Brien was told that the accused was spotted by Garda acting suspiciously outside a house in Bruach Na Sionna, O’Brien’s Bridge, where they had been conducting a search.
Gardai approached the car and a search revealed that Heighton was found in possession of a quantity of xanax tablets worth €90 in the car that he was driving.
Contrary to section 15 of the Misuse of Drugs Act, the accused was arrested and charged accordingly.
At Limerick District Court last week, Heighton, with 17 previous convictions, pleaded guilty to the charges and stated through his solicitor John Devane that the drugs were obtained through prescription and that he had been on his way to his mother’s house to give her some as she did not have any.
John Devane told the court that his client had not come to the attention of the gardai since the time of his last conviction in 2004 and that in the same year he lost an eye in a shooting incident with a shot gun in the St Mary’s Park area of the city, after he was set upon by a group.
Judge Eamon O’Brien said that he took a serious view of the possession of any drugs for sale or supply and convicted and sentenced him to nine months in prison contrary to the section 15 charges.
Recognisance was set at €500 and an appeal has already been lodged.
