Woman tried to flush drugs during search in Laois

A woman who obstructed gardai by attempting to flush drugs down a toilet during a search was fined at Portlaoise District Court. 

Rachel McCarthy 30, 15 Cabra Court, Thurles, Tipperary pleaded guilty to the offence at a sitting of Portlaoise District Court. 

Sgt Sean Keane said the offence happened during a planned search of a property in Portarlington on January 21 last year. As gardai entered with a search warrant the woman, “flushed a bag of cannabis down a toilet,” he told the court. 

Barrister Suzanne Dooner said “she panicked and she admits that she tried to flush the cannabis down the toilet.”  However, she argued that the situation was not of her making. “She fully co-operated with the gardai in interview,” she told the court. 

Ms Dooner said her client was a mother of two children. She has since separated from her partner and returned to her family home and had travelled from Thurles to attend court. 

Judge John King convicted her of the offence and fined her €400. He asked if the cannabis had been recovered and when told it had, he granted gardai a destruction order for the drugs.