Significant issue with heroin in Galway, says Judge
A Lithuanian heroin dealer smiled with relief when sentenced to five months in prison for selling the drug on the streets of Galway this summer.
His arrest last July was a direct result of an ongoing operation by the local Garda Divisional Drugs Unit into the drug-dealing activities of a Dublin-based Lithuanian criminal gang here in Galway.
Imposing sentence this week at the holiday sittings of Galway District Court, visiting Judge Marie Keane said that since coming to Galway this August she could not help but notice “a significant issue with drugs in the city, moving onto more serious drugs”.
Arturas Rimkevicius (25), 330 Tirellan Heights, Headford Road, was caught red-handed by Garda Paul McNulty and Garda Orla Flatley with ten bags of heroin ‘deals’ worth €250 as he left his rental address at 5.45pm on July 3 last to ply his trade on the streets of Galway.
A follow-up search of the house in Tirellan yielded a further 70 bags of heroin ‘deals’ worth €1,750 along with a quantity of cash, which Gardai believe to be the proceeds of drug dealing.
Inspector Mick Dwyer explained the ongoing Garda operation had been mounted to target the Lithuanian gang’s criminal activities in the Galway area.
Both Gardai had the house under observation and Rimkevicius was arrested and subsequently charged with having amphetamines, cannabis and heroin in his possession at the above address on July 3 last and with having the drugs for sale or supply on the same date.
He was further charged with obstructing Garda Paul McNulty by attempting to swallow ten bags of heroin, refusing to spit them out and resisting arrest on the same date.
A backlog of cases at the National Forensic Science Laboratory in Dublin delayed the certificate of analysis for the drugs seized at the time and the case could not be dealt with until the certificate issued this week.
Inspector Mick Dwyer said there were eight charges before the court.
He then withdrew four of the charges following a plea by Rimkevicius to the remaining four charges; two for possession of drugs and two drug dealing charges.
Defence solicitor, Brian Gilmartin said his client had been in custody since July 4 last and had only been in Galway a few months before his arrest.
“He is not the first person to come before this court in similar circumstances.
“It’s been accepted that these people are being trafficked and are victims of their own circumstances.
”In Lithuania they are promised a better life but when they arrive here, they are handed a phone and drugs and told to sell them,” he said.
Pleading for leniency, Mr Gilmartin said his client had been in custody for two months already and his intention had always been to plead guilty.
Judge Keane observed: “This court cannot take a lenient approach to drugs. Drugs are a scourge of the modern age.
“I’ve noticed since sitting in Galway this month, a significant issue with drugs, moving onto more serious drugs.”
The judge said that while she accepted Rimkevicius was a lesser player, it was significant he had ten heroin deals on him when caught and had 70 more in the house along with cash.
She sentenced Rimkevicius to three months for the drug dealing charges and two months for the possession charges, both sentences to run consecutively. She backdated the sentence to July 3, when the accused first went into custody.
Rimkevicius smiled and joked with the Lithuanian interpreter when she explained the sentence to him and he smiled broadly as he was led away by prison officers.