Stewartstown man tells police he was ‘just rolling a joint’

Twenty-seven-year-old Gary Glackin from Sunnyside Road, Stewartstown, admitted charges of possessing cocaine and cannabis.

District Judge Michael Ranaghan also ordered Glackin to pay a £15 offender’s levy, and made an order for the destruction of the drugs seized by police.

Prosecution counsel told the court that on April 20 this year, police were patrolling in the Killycanavan Road area of Stewartstown when they came upon a car parked in the gateway leading to a field around 9.30pm.

The lawyer said police spoke to the defendant who appeared to be rolling something, and he replied that he was “just rolling a joint”.

A search was carried out and a grinder and approximately two grams of cannabis along with a quantity of a suspected Class A drug were seized.

Counsel claimed Glackin said that the drugs were for his personal benefit.

He was arrested and during interview made a full statement of admission.

Defence lawyer Blaine Nugent said Glackin made “a full and frank” statement of admission at the scene.

Mr Nugent pointed out that the defendant had no previous convictions or cautions for drug offences.

He pleaded with the court to give him credit for his early plea and cooperation with the police.

The lawyer said Glackin had been working a fabricator with a local engineering firm but had been furloughed and then made redundant in July.

He said the defendant was now looking for a new job and asked the court to deal with him in a lenient manner.

Mr Nugent described the incident as having been a “salutary lesson” for the defendant.

District Judge Ranaghan said he would deal with it by monetary penalty given the defendant’s clear record in respect of drugs.

The judge gave Glackin 20 weeks to pay the fine.

Thank you for reading this article. We’re more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

Please consider purchasing a copy of the paper. You can also support trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription of the News Letter.