A man who got his teenage nephew to hold over €1,200 worth of heroin during a Garda raid, will have to wait until July 27 to find out when he must appear in the Circuit Court, after a District Court judge refused jurisdiction in the case this week (June 8 ).
Garda Aidan Lyons of the Drugs Squad gave evidence how he had arrested John Briody (54 ), Glen Riada, Strokestown Road, Longford that morning on foot of an outstanding bench warrant.
Garda Lyons told the court how on August 25 in a raid on 3 Goldsmith View, Athlone, he found a 14-year-old boy in possession of 8.4g of heroin, worth an estimated €1,262.
The boy, a nephew of the defendant, and temporarily resident at this address, later told Garda Lyons that Briody “ordered him to take the heroin during the raid”.
“It was an organised operation, judge. There was one person in the house to take phone calls...it was a reasonably sized operation,” said Garda Lyons. He explained the time lag between raid and court date was because Briody “was not long home from England”.
Judge Seamus Hughes immediately refused jurisdiction, which means the case is automatically passed on to a higher court, with higher penalties.
Initially, Garda Lyons opposed bail because he claimed colleagues had called to Briody’s given address on a number of occasions and “no-one was home”.
However, Briody stressed the address he had given was where he had lived since returning from England, and offered to meet Garda Lyons there by appointment.
Judge Hughes ordered Briody sign on daily at Longford Garda Station, and remanded him on continuing bail until July 27 to await directions from the DPP.
Defending solicitor, Mr Dara Hayden, applied for, and was granted legal aid.
