A LIMERICK family was terrorised out of their home and forced to repay a drug debt following threats and intimidation from one Limerick’s leading criminal gangs, the Limerick District Court was told.
Evidence was given of the text message threats, midnight phone calls and assaults that a family endured after one member ran up an unpaid drug debt.
Judge Tom O’Donnell sat stunned as he heard detailed evidence during the case against 21-year-old Daniel Corbett.
The court heard that Corbett of McDonagh Avenue, Janesboro, developed a habit for cannabis herb and had run up a debt with a gang in the city.
Unable to pay that debt and in fear for his safety, he was forced into selling 20g bags of cannabis herb for €300 for the criminal outfit.
However, Corbett was stopped by gardai on Mallow St on March 4 last, and when the vehicle was searched, €2,688 worth of the drug was found stashed in the air vent under the bonnet of the car.
Corbett was arrested, interviewed and charged with the drug offences pertaining to the sale and supply of a controlled substance.
It was at this time, the court was told, that the Corbett family found themselves at the mercy of the gang who demanded a €6,000 payment in lieu of the drugs seized.
Defence solicitor, Turlough Herbert, told the court that it was a “significant amount of drugs” to be found with, adding that his client had a recreational habit and got caught with debts to a “serious criminal gang”.
Mr Herbert said Corbett was forced into distribution of the drugs for the gang in order to repay the debt. With it, this brought “intimidation and a serious amount of duress upon the family”.
Evidence was given by a close relative of the threats made to the family by the gang, and how a credit union loan had to be secured to repay the debt to the criminals.
Details and documents of the loan agreement were submitted to the court.
Judge O’Donnell heard how the lives of the family were made a misery,” and that €6,000 had to be paid to the gang or, “they would be minus a child”.
Details were given of threatening texts and late night phonecalls received from the gang, as well as an assault on a 10-year-old sister of Daniel Corbett.
The Corbett family had to move home following the threats and intimidation.
The court also heard that the family are still enduring to repay the loan, but that the intimidation was “not as bad now that the debt was paid”.
Mr Herbert added that the accused, who pleaded guilty to the charges before the court, had “removed himself from that life”, given up his drug habit and has since managed to secure employment.
Noting that the family reported complaints to the gardai, Mr Herbert added that this ordeal had brought a huge amount of trauma to the family.
Inspector Seamus Ruane said he “was unaware of any complaints, but was aware of a previous incident”.
Judge O’Donnell, addressing the court as to his shock of the seriousness of the matters that unfolded, marked the facts of the case proven.
Stating that he did not think he had heard anything more appalling in the courtroom for sometime, he noted that the level of intimidation suffered by the family was “extremely disturbing” and amounted to an “appalling set of circumstances”, but credited the “bravery” of the family.
The case was adjourned until January for a probation report to be furnished.
