Kingscourt drugs-related shooting recalled in court

Two men, aged 19 and 20, appeared at Cavan Circuit Court on Thursday in connection with a drugs-related shooting incident in Kingscourt last year, where shots were fired at an empty house. Timothy Reilly (19), 22 Devalera Park, Drumconrath, Navan, and Sean Sherlock (20), 1 Turners Hill, Kingscourt both pleaded guilty to having a firearm with intent to commit criminal damage at 15 Cluain Dara, Kingscourt on March 2, 2009, and to possession of cannabis resin. The court heard that the co-accuseds were arrested after gardaí observed them driving a car that linked them with the incident. Mr. Sherlock told Garda Galligan the background, which the garda related to the court. On February 28, Mr. Sherlock had collected three kilos of cannabis weed from a supplier, and was to pay back €16,000 when it was sold on, on top of a €4,000 profit he was to make. However, cannabis was stolen from where he stored it and Mr. Sherlock suspected Mattie Carroll of having stolen it. Mr. Carroll denied this. Mr. Sherlock told his supplier who agreed to provide a firearm and he collected it in Kilcock. Mr. Sherlock drove Mr. Reilly and a third man, who wasn't before the court, to Mr. Carroll's home and Mr. Sherlock kept the engine running while the accomplices fired the shots at the house. "They didn't want to hurt Mattie Carroll, they wanted to frighten him," the court heard. Mr. Reilly, who admitted firing the gun, said in his statement: "It felt good to shoot the gun... It felt like gangsters... It don't feel good now." The court heard that Mr. Sherlock co-operated with the investigation. He had started using cannabis and alcohol at about 12 years old, but had gone back to his old school since this incident to warn students of the dangers of drugs. His father took the stand to say that his son had learnt his lesson. Apologising to the court, Mr. Sherlock said he hadn't touched drugs in two-and-a-half months, but admitted he was setting up what Judge John O'Hagan described as "a tidy little business as a drug dealer" at the time of the offence. Judge O'Hagan, who said the events were "like something you would read in a comic or see in a video", described drugs as "an insidious trade" that "wreaks havoc with our youth". He sentenced Mr. Sherlock to three years and refused leave to appeal. The case against Mr. Reilly was adjourned to the July sittings of Cavan Circuit Court.