Secret Erris cannabis grower gave his plants girls’ names





Grower cleared of sale and supply



AN Erris man who grew cannabis plants in his attic gave his plants female names and recorded their growing pattern in journals, Castlebar Circuit Court heard last week.

Liam O’Connor (27) of Glencullen, Bangor Erris, pleaded guilty of the possession and cultivation of cannabis at his rented house in Glencullen, but he denied the charge of sale and supply of cannabis. Following a trial, he was found not guilty of the charge of sale and supply but was given a three year suspended sentence for the cultivation of cannabis.

‘Ciara is amazing’

During the trial, the jury were told that a number of A4 pads and notebooks were found following a garda search of the property. The journals tracked the growth of the cannabis plants, with female names given to the different plants. The names included Nicki, Angelina, Jacinta, Michelle, Sabrina, Ciara, Scarlet and Monica.

Inserts in the journal’s included passages such as; ‘Nicki looks good’, ‘Jessica is excellent, the yellow spots have gone away’, ‘Monica’s perfect’, ‘Ciara is amazing’, ‘Scarlet is in a bad way’.

Belmullet Gardaí searched the property at 9am on May 30, 2014, after receiving information that cannabis was being grown in the house. The cannabis plants were found in the attic, along with fans, lights, a ventilation system and a black polythene sheet that divided the room in two.

The plants included 20 cuttings that were two to three inches in height and had not yet rooted. There were also six young plants ranging in height from three to eight inches, as well as four larger plants. Eight jars containing a total of 399.6g of cannabis were also found.

When questioned by gardaí, Mr O’Connor admitted to gardaí that he was growing the cannabis, but he claimed it was for his own use and not for sale. He said he was a heavy smoker of cannabis and could smoke up to seven joints in a day. The amount found in the house would last him three or four months, he said.

He told gardaí that he had been growing plants for two years and that nobody knew about it. When asked by gardaí whether he sold the drug locally, he replied, ‘If you get anyone to say I sold drugs, you are doing well.’

Detective Garda Jim Caden of the Mayo Divisional Drug Unit explained that from his experience, the average amount of cannabis smoked in a week was 2.5g. He said the amount the defendant had should last for over three years.

‘Secret life’

In his evidence, Mr O’Connor said that he had started to smoke heavily and that Det Garda Caden’s claim was ‘way off’. He said he started growing the plants because the drug he was buying on the street was laced with fibreglass and that he had researched growing the herb on the internet. He said he bought the growing kits in Dublin and that growing the plants had become as much of an addiction as smoking itself.

Mr O’Connor said he had an interest in horticulture and also grew potatoes, kale, broccoli and tomatoes, recording his results in a journal to see how they grew in different soils and conditions.

He explained that he led a ‘secret life’ in that he did not tell anyone he was growing cannabis. His arrest ‘answered a lot of questions for people’, he said.

Mr O’Connor disguised the smell of the cannabis by burning incense, and he turned on the washing machine and dryer to hide the sound of the fans and ventilation system if anyone came to the house.

The court heard that Mr O’Connor was on the dole and ‘had a shop fixing mobile phones’. The Gardaí said they did not suspect that he was selling drugs prior to the search.

In sentencing Mr O’Connor for the cultivation of drugs, Judge Melanie Greally said that while she accepted that it was a local grow house, she described the find as a ‘significant seizure’.

The court heard that Mr O’Connor was no longer using drugs, and Judge Greally said this was significant. She sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment but suspended the sentence for two years.



