by Andrew Carey
A LIMERICK man watched the opening sequence of a Love/Hate DVD to see how to clean a Glock semi automatic handgun before he and his friends indulged in a “smorgasbord” of illegal drugs, a court has been told.
Peter O’Flaherty (35) of College Avenue, Moyross was one of four men found by Gardaí at a drug-fuelled drinks party in an apartment on Limerick’s Henry Street last year.
Detective Garda Dave Baynham of the Divisional Drugs Unit told Limerick Circuit Court heard that a surveillance operation was set up at the apartment which was just yards from Henry Street Garda Station.
On October 27, 2012, Peter O’Flaherty’s brother Sam and another man left the apartment to buy alcohol in a nearby off-licence. Sam O’Flaherty was detained while Gardaí obtained a search warrant for the apartment.
When they raided the apartment, Gardaí found Peter O’Flaherty and a fourth man were with what Prosecution Counsel John O’Sullivan described as a “smorgasbord of illegal drugs”.
The two men were watching a Love/Hate DVD on a laptop.
A Glock handgun and 16 rounds of 9mm ammunition were stashed in the sitting room. The gun was in good condition, although the serial number had been “erased beyond recognition”.
The O’Flaherty brothers were arrested and charged with possession of the gun and ammunition. Sam O’Flaherty was also charged with the possession of drugs for sale and supply while Peter O’Flaherty was charged with possession of drugs.
Sam O’Flaherty told Gardaí that he was given the gun a week earlier and told to keep it for a few days in order to wipe €500 off a €4,000 drug debt while Peter O’Flaherty said he looked up videos on the internet to see how to clean the gun.
Mr O’Sullivan said that Peter, a former FCA sergeant with training in handling anti tank weaponry, used the Love/Hate DVD to see how to clean the gun as one of the episodes showed how a similar weapon was dismantled. He cleaned it to get “brownie points” and to make sure it would not “blow up” in his face.
The two men made admissions that were of material assistance to the State’s case.
While Mr O’Sullivan said that Sam O’Flaherty was a “go to man” for drugs in certain pubs in Limerick city, he had “no trappings of wealth” despite previous convictions for drug offences. He was the “custodian of the ammunition and his brother Peter got involved “out of a misguided sense of family loyalty”.
Judge Carroll Moran adjourned the case to November 24, releasing the brothers on continuing bail.
