A mother of three, believed by Gardaí to be “a major player in drug dealing in Athlone” who took up the reins of her husbands’s operation after he got jailed for 10 years in 2007, was given a five year suspended sentence in the Circuit Court this week (December 10 ) after being convicted of possession with intent to supply nearly €7,000 worth of heroin to customers all over the country.
Before the court for sentencing were Louise Courtney (35 ), 2 Clibborne Way, Moate, but formerly of St Mel’s Terrace and Marine View, Athlone, and her co-accused Derek Ryan (26 ) Clongowna, Bealnamulia. Both had pleaded guilty to the offence on May 11, after a sting operation on foot of neighbours’ complaints at the Clibborne Way address on September 1, 2008 when gardaí found €6,670 worth of heroin, €140 of cannabis herb, €1,100 and £65 in cash, and a “tick list” of accounts owed to the pair which came to a total of €2,000. She admitted to 12 or 13 customers from Athlone, Moate, Clara, Tuam, and Mullingar.
Courtney claimed she only dealt to feed her habit and that she only took up heroin after discovering about her husband’s infidelities after he was jailed, but garda opinion contradicted this.
“When he [Dominic, her husband] got his 10-year sentence there was a void in the market that she jumped in to fill. Louise Courtney is very much to the fore of drug dealing in Athlone,” said Sergeant Cormac Moylan in State’s evidence. He didn’t believe Courtney was addicted to heroin “at the moment”.
“I believe she is involved in drug trade rather than drug addiction,” he said.
Her co-accused, Ryan, had a drug addiction problem, according to Sergeant Moylan’s evidence.
“He had been living in the company of Mrs Courtney for six or eight months. He got addicted and then involved in the sale and supply,” said Sergeant Moylan.
“He had access to a car and was being used by Mrs Courtney. He wasn’t the brains behind the operation, he was the footsoldier.”
Courtney’s barrister, Mr Padraic Hogan, put it to Sergeant Moylan that as her new address had been searched three times since by gardaí who found nothing, this was indicative of her no longer being involved in the drug trade, but Sergeant Moylan disagreed.
“Well, she’s either stopped or she’s got cuter. That’d be the belief I’d hold,” he said.
In her own defence, Courtney said she did accept full blame “because the house was in my name”, that she was heroin free since September 2009, had attended 35 drug counselling sessions, helped with an after-school club for local children, and hoped to do a diploma in community development.
“My future is to get on with my life and show my kids the way forward...I’m trying to change my life, turn it around best I can,” she said.
Mr Hogan suggested his client was guilty by association in regards to her husband Dominic being “a very serious player in the drug scene”, and asked the judge to accept that “the prognosis offered by the State is incorrect”.
Judge Anthony Kennedy sentenced Courtney to five years in jail but that as he “felt bound by the previous rulings of the court of criminal appeal” he suspended the sentence for five years.
Ryan was then sentenced to three years in prison, which Judge Kennedy also suspended.
