Portlaoise District Court

A SUMMONS for drug possession will be struck out if the defendant contributes €200 to the court poor box before 9 March next year. So Judge Andrew Cody told the defendant when she came before Portlaoise District Court recently.

The court heard that gardaí carried out a search of a house under warrant at an address in Laois on 25 July 2020. During the search, they found a small box containing €40 worth of cannabis, which the defendant said was hers. The court was also informed that the defendant had no previous convictions.

“It wasn’t her house. She wasn’t the target of the search, but took ownership of the box,” said defending solicitor Josephine Fitzpatrick.

Judge Cody ruled as outlined.