Gardai nabbed a drug-driver after smelling cannabis through the vent of their vehicle while another car was driving in the opposite direction.
The accused, Sarah Louise Gallagher, appeared at Letterkenny District Court where she was charged with drug driving at Railway Road, Buncrana on December 26th, 2022.
The court heard how just after 4pm, Ms Gallagher, a community care worker, was traveling on the Ludden Road towards Buncrana.
Garda Colm Mooney and a colleague was traveling in an unmarked patrol car in the opposite direction.
Now retired Garda Mooney said the driver’s window was down and he got the strong smell of cannabis and noticed a woman in a grey Hyundai SUV vehicle smoking.
He told how Gardai then followed the vehicle and eventually pulled the woman in at Railway Road in Fahan.
An oral fluid test was carried out and the woman tested positive for cannabis and was then arrested and brought to Buncrana Garda Station to be processed.
A blood test was later carried out by a designated nurse and this test later proved positive for cannabis.
Solicitor for Ms Gallagher, of Sheriff Road, Derry, Mr Frank Murphy, cross examined Mr Mooney.
He asked what speed Gardai were traveling and was told between 70 and 80kph while Ms Gallagher estimated she was doing slightly less than that.
He asked Mr Mooney what the weather conditions were like at the time and he replied they were actually dry and good.
However, Mr Murphy said he had looked up a weather app for the night in question and it showed that at the time there was light rain known as ‘mizzle.’
Mr Murphy asked the retired Garda if it was not an ‘unfathomable story’ to put it kindly that i all the circumstances that cannabis could be smelt from a car traveling in the opposite direction.
Mr Mooney replied that he was the observer in the patrol car, that he was an experienced officer and that this was a factual story.
He told the court that although his window was not open he smelt the cannabis through the vent of the car as the other car was pasing.
Mr Murphy sought a direction (to find his client not guilty) on a point of law surrounding the apprehension of his client.
However, Garda Inspector Paul Magee said that when Gardai had a suspicion (over drugs) they were entitled to stop people and i relation to the weather conditions on the night he suggested that court evidence could not rely on apps or the internet.
Having considered the application, Judge Eiteain Cunningham said she was satisfied that the then Garda acted in a bona fide manner, was not holding with Mr Murphy and found the facts proven.
Mr Murphy said his client was a 29-year-old community care worker who occasionally smoked cannabis to cope with the stress from her job.
He said a conviction and disqualification will have a detrimental affect on her job as she could no longer drive to see clients in her care.
Before passing sentence, Judge Cunningham asked Mr Mooney how Ms Gallagher had reacted when stopped and he replied that she had been a pleasure to deal with.
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