A Laois teenager found with cannabis during a search of his home in 2024 was prosecuted as an adult, despite being only 17 at the time of the incident.<\/p>\n
Curtis Rhodes (19), Carlow appeared before Judge Geraldine Carthy charged with possession of cannabis for personal use under section 3 of the ***Misuse of Drugs Act***.<\/p>\n
The court heard that on 31 July 2024 at approximately 9.40pm, a search warrant was executed at Chestnut Avenue, Fruithill Manor, Graiguecullen, where he still resides. Mr Rhodes was present during the search, in the course of which a box containing 28 grams of suspected cannabis herb, with an estimated street value of \u20ac560, was found concealed in a bin.<\/p>\n
A report from Forensic Science Ireland subsequently confirmed the substance was cannabis.<\/p>\n
Mr Rhodes\u2019s barrister told the court that while his client was now 19, he had been just 17 at the time of the incident. \u201cHe would have been dealt with as a minor and now, through no fault of his own, he is being dealt with as an adult,\u201d the barrister said.<\/p>\n
He added that his client had chosen not to challenge the matter on legal grounds. \u201cHe\u2019s opted to go a more practical route; he has made admissions and we would rather be upfront with the court rather than explore the legal points,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The barrister also noted that the matter had been prolonged unnecessarily. He said it \u201cshould have been relatively straightforward, but for whatever reason the prosecuting member did not produce statements for another two years\u201d.<\/p>\n
The court heard that Mr Rhodes is currently working alongside his father, who is employed in paving. The barrister said his client hoped to start a shoe reselling business, having recently ordered his first stock, and had longer-term plans to open a clothing business.<\/p>\n
The barrister described his client as \u201ca significantly different person in character\u201d who no longer smokes and drinks very little. \u201cHe is far more into his health and wellbeing,\u201d he said, adding that Mr Rhodes\u2019s mother was present in the courtroom and that he had \u201ca very supportive family around him\u201d.<\/p>\n
The barrister submitted that his client, whom he described as \u201ca young man with relatively little means\u201d, had brought \u20ac500 to court for a charity of the court\u2019s choosing and expressed the hope that the ***Probation Act*** would be applied. On the question of his client\u2019s age at the time of the offence, he said Mr Rhodes had been \u201cstuck between a rock and a hard place\u201d, noting that he \u201chad only just turned 17 at the time and should have been dealt with as a juvenile\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Rhodes has two previous convictions, both of which relate to road traffic matters.<\/p>\n
Judge Carthy noted the plea of guilty and directed that a total of \u20ac1,500 be paid to the court poor box. She said the case would be finalised in late June, at which point she would apply the ***Probation Act*** upon full payment.<\/p>\n
***Funded by the Court Reporting Scheme***<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Laois teenager found with cannabis during a search of his home in 2024 was prosecuted as an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[61,60,82],"class_list":["post-484962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}