A MAN has escaped jail after claiming he grew cannabis to treat his seriously ill son.

Christopher McDaid, 33, was found in possession of more than 100 marijuana plants when gardai raided the home in ­October 2015.

Ciaran McDaid at Letterkenny Circuit Court Credit: Newspix

But the dad of one said he was growing the drug so he could treat his ten-year-old lad, who suffers from the rare genetic disorder ataxia-telangiectasia which has no cure.

Letterkenny Circuit Court was told cops found two grow tents containing ten plants each inside the rented house in the Carrigans, Co Donegal.

Officers found another 80 smaller plants or cuttings and work was under way to boost the size of the operation.

McDaid was arrested at the scene after the property was put under garda surveillance.

He admitted possession of a controlled drug and cultivation of cannabis without a licence at The Haw, Churchtown, Carrigans on October 23, 2015.

But the court heard McDaid was growing the pot because he believed it could ease the symptoms of the boy and also of his seriously ill father.

Barrister Sean MacAodha said AT sufferers can live to 25 but doctors believe the boy, who was diagnosed in 2009, is “probably looking at less than that” and will die in around eight years’ time.

He said McDaid, of Foylesprings in Derry, who has a degree in marine science, researched the ­illness for years and found a case in Canada where two kids were “walking within two weeks” after pot treatment.

The dad was found in possession of 100 marijuana plants Credit: Reuters

Mr MacAodha said: “This was his aim. He was doing it to help his family and they were not to be sold on the street.”

But he added: “The difference between the family in Canada or a family in Derry or Donegal, is that the family in Canada can avail of prescriptive cannabinoids but that cannot be done here.”

McDaid’s son was born in New York, where the dad had lived with his partner, but they returned home due to the cost of medical tests in the US.

Judge Martin Nolan said that McDaid’s explanation for the drugs was a credible one.

He said: “It seems he was not in this enterprise for profit and he had no intention of the selling drugs on the market.”

The judge sentenced McDaid to a year in jail but suspended it for one year.