Man under influence of drugs while child was in the house

Damien Donaghy, Brague Road, Corbet, Banbridge, pleaded guilty to possession of a class B drug, cannabis, on May 2 this year.

The case had been adjourned for a pre-sentence report and was mentioned in the court held the previous Thursday, August 6.

A prosecutor said that at 3am at an address in Banbridge they saw the defendant. His eyelids were droopy and he seemed under the influence of drugs.

There was a 14-month-old child in the house at the time.

Donaghy had a small bag of cannabis and admitted it belonged to him.

Mr Gabriel Ingram, representing the defendant, said Donaghy was full and forthright with the police and made full admissions.

District Judge, Rosalie Prytherch, said an aggravating factor was that he took cannabis with a child in the house.

Mr Ingram said his client had waited until the child had gone upstairs before engaging in this activity.

Judge Prytherch adjourned the case for a week so that the sitting judge could decide if a deferral would be appropriate.

At last week’s court Mr Ingram said Donaghy’s aunt was in court to give him support and that the defendant was attending with his GP for counselling for his drug addiction.

District Judge, Mr Paul Copeland, deferred sentencing for six months until February 7 next year.

He told Donaghy he was giving him this opportunity to see if he could stay out of trouble and co-operate with people who could help him.

Mr Ingram told the judge that Donaghy’s aunt would like a curfew imposed which would assist her.

Remanding the defendant on his own bail of £500 Judge Copeland set a curfew from 10pm to 7am.