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A COURT HAS HEARD that Ian Bailey, who is contesting a drug driving charge, was found with a small can of cannabis on his person after his arrest at a Garda checkpoint.
The 63-year-old man faces four charges following his arrest near Schull, Co Cork on August 25, 2019.
Bailey, from Priary, Lisscaha in Schull, West Cork, has been charged and pleaded not guilty of possession of cannabis in his car, possession of cannabis at Bantry Garda station, driving while there was cannabis in his system and allowing your car will be used. for possession of cannabis.
He was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, having failed a road breath test, but then passed a second test at the Bantry Garda station.
It is alleged that he failed an oral fluid test and that blood samples taken by a doctor at the Bantry garda station subsequently tested positive for the presence of cannabis.
The Bantry District Court heard that Bailey had been detained at a checkpoint in Schull shortly after 8 p.m. on August 25, 2019.
Judge John King was told that a small can of cannabis was found on Bailey, who allegedly told Gardaí that someone had left it for him at his market stall.
The court also heard that Bailey said that the cannabis found on his person was for “personal use” and that a search of his car should not uncover any more drugs.
However, gardaí allegedly found three other joints in the car after the vehicle was searched. The joints were found in a compartment in the center dash.
Emmet Boyle, Bailey’s attorney, raised a number of issues in connection with the case. These included how Gardaí discovered cannabis both on his client’s person and in his car.
The lawyer also mentioned other aspects of the garda investigation, including that the garda who arrested him allegedly withheld the keys to Bailey’s car after his release the night of his arrest, took the car and parked it at the station overnight. before registering it the next day.
The judge agreed to consider written submissions on some of those arguments. The case will go back to West Cork court on December 10.
Checkpoint settings
Garda Sergeant Kevin Heffernan told the court that he and Garda Corina Finn set up a checkpoint three miles from Schull on the day of the alleged crime.
He said that shortly after 8.15 p.m., a cream-colored, Kildare-registered Toyota Verso being driven by Bailey approached the checkpoint.
The garda sergeant said he noticed the driver was not wearing a seat belt. When the driver approached, he quickly buckled up.
When it stopped, Bailey showed her driver’s license at the checkpoint. The garda sergeant said he then smelled a strong smell of alcohol on Bailey’s breath.
Bailey told the garda that she had had a pint with a meal earlier. He also said he was tired.
The Garda sergeant performed a roadside breath test, which Bailey failed, before being arrested and taken to the Garda station in Bantry.
His car was parked by the sergeant near the entrance to a field shortly before 9 pm.
Garda Gary Coakley conducted a routine search of Bailey at the station, where a small can containing cannabis was found.
The journalist passed an alcohol evidence test, but an oral liquid test was performed shortly after 10 p.m. that night, which came back positive.
‘Someone left him’
A warning memo was then taken in which Bailey said of the small can containing suspicious cannabis: “Someone left it at the market stall. They said ‘it’s for you’ and left it. “
He told Garda Heffernan that it was “green stuff” and, responding to a question about whether he knew what it was, said “not exactly, but it looks like cannabis.”
“I assume it is cannabis and I was in possession of it,” he said.
Bailey said he did not know the name of the person who left the bathtub with him and when asked by the Garda sergeant if additional cannabis would be found in his car, he replied, “No, you shouldn’t.”
Garda Gary Coakley said it was standard practice for any detained person to be searched at the station for their protection and the protection of the gardaí.
He said that when they found the can at Bailey, they informed him that a friend had given it to him.
Bailey signed the memorandum of the interview with the garda sergeant shortly after 11 p.m. and the Gardaí left it at home.
Wanted car
Shortly before midnight, the garda sergeant returned to the checkpoint, unlocked the car and drove it to Schull Garda station, where he safely parked it overnight at the rear of the station.
The garda sergeant told the court that he did not want to search the vehicle in the dark and that the vehicle was secure behind two electric gates.
The next morning, at 8 a.m., he searched the car. He told the court that he found two rolled joints and some cannabis flakes in a small compartment on the center dash. He also said he discovered a mini cannabis cigar rolled up in the car.
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All three joints were subsequently preserved as evidence. When Bailey called the Garda station about her car the next day, they told her that cannabis had been found in her car.
Bailey told Gardaí that the cannabis was for “personal use.”
Sergeant Heffernan told the court that he was unsure if he had held onto Bailey’s keys at all times, or if he had given them to the member in charge before they were later returned to make it easier for him to move the car. .
Bailey’s attorney said his client’s search took place 19 minutes after he arrived at the station.
However, Bailey waited 28 minutes before the 20-minute observation period for the drunk driving test began.
“It was a search for an individual at a Garda station where there is a gap where there was no effort to ensure that Mr. Bailey understood the reason for the search, therefore anything discovered by the search is in question,” said the lawyer.
He said Gardaí could have asked Bailey to take a road drug test.
He said the decision to take the drug test was “retrospective” and based on what was allegedly found on Bailey during the search.
‘Unfounded’ car movement
The attorney also said that Bailey did not have the keys to his car and was not in control of the vehicle and that the garda sergeant “had no legal right” to retain the keys and retain the vehicle. He described the transfer of the car to Schull as “unfounded”.
Inspector Ian O’Callaghan, the prosecutor, defended the garda procedures.
He said the roadside procedures were “totally correct” and that once cannabis was found on Bailey in the search, the garda sergeant had correctly formed the opinion that Bailey may have been driving under the influence of a drug. .
He said it was “totally logical” to deduce this and “the sergeant’s opinion turned out to be correct”, referring to the results of the subsequent analysis.
O’Callaghan said it was “standard practice” for prisoners to be searched at a surveillance station.
He said that “at all times” Bailey’s car keys were in the custody of the garda and that “it is the state’s opinion that all procedures were carried out correctly.”
The case will be mentioned again next month.
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