Court archive
Court reports mentioning Clonaslee, Laois
2020-11-30 · Dublin
In November 2020, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of a 41‑year‑old Laois truck driver who had been convicted of possession of cocaine for sale or supply. The driver, who had transported almost €300,000 worth of cocaine into Dublin, had denied saying, "So you found the drugs, then?" to the officer who discovered the drugs. The alleged admission was allowed into evidence at his trial. The drugs were found stashed in a fire extinguisher in the cab of his truck after it was seized at Dublin Port more than five years earlier. Judge Patricia Ryan had sentenced him to eight and a half years' imprisonment in 2018, describing him as a facilitator in the importation of the drugs. The appeal focused on the alleged verbal admission, but the Court of Appeal ruled that it was not unfair for the State to rely on the admission, even though it was made before the driver was cautioned. The unnamed 41-year-old pleaded not guilty.
2020-06-12 · Dublin
A Laois truck driver, 41, appealed his 2018 conviction for possession of cocaine for sale or supply. He was found with almost €300,000 worth of cocaine stashed in a fire extinguisher in his cab and in a bag on the trailer of his truck seized at Dublin Port. A jury acquitted him of the trailer drugs but convicted him of the cab drugs, for which Judge Patricia Ryan sentenced him to eight and a half years' imprisonment. The driver denied any knowledge of the drugs and denied making an alleged admission to a customs officer, who had approached him in custody and asked, "So you found the drugs, then?" The appeal argued that the alleged admission was inadmissible because the driver had not been cautioned and that no corroborative evidence supported the claim that he had made the admission. The Court of Appeal has reserved judgment. The unnamed 41-year-old pleaded not guilty.
2018-11-15 · Dublin
Aidan Conroy, a 40‑year‑old truck driver from Ashbrook, Clonaslee, was jailed for eight and a half years after a court found him a facilitator in the importation of nearly €300,000 worth of cocaine. The drugs were seized at Dublin Port on 20 August 2015 when officers stopped his freight truck after it disembarked from a ferry. They discovered 4.2 kilos of cocaine hidden in a fire extinguisher in the truck cab and an additional 6.9 kilos in a bag on pallets in the trailer. A jury acquitted Conroy of charges relating to the trailer drugs but convicted him of possession of the cab drugs. He pleaded not guilty to possession for sale or supply of cocaine with a market value over €13,000 and denied importation.