Judge warns of ‘Russian roulette’ with ‘black market’ pills as he jails man for drugs offences

Judge Neil Rafferty, King’s Counsel (KC), was speaking as he imposed a prison sentence on Joseph McMonagle (35) of Kavanagh Court in the Ballymagroarty area of Derry who admitted driving and drug charges.

Derry Crown Court heard that on October 1, 2022, police officers had observed McMonagle driving a motorbike along a pavement in the Galliagh area of the city.

He swerved away from police officers although the court heard that the motorbike was 'a ramshackle' affair that was not capable of great speeds.

He was charged with dangerous driving as there were children in the area at the time, the court was told on Friday.

McMonagle was detained and drugs were found on him as well as a sum of money.

Following his arrest the defendant told police officers, 'I am very sorry, I was trying my best I do not want to go back to prison.'

Judge Rafferty said that McMonagle had seven previous convictions for drug offences and that he also had 'an atrocious driving record' with 85 road traffic convictions.

The judge said that he wanted 'the message to be clear, anyone dealing drugs in the city is getting a custodial sentence.'

He said that there was 'a significant problem' with class A, B and C drugs in the city, adding that people had the impression that because class C drugs were prescription drugs they were safe.

Judge Rafferty added that drugs like pregabalin were 'far from safe.'

Judge Rafferty said that many of these drugs were manufactured in Asia, before being sold on the black market and that it was 'Russian roulette' as to what was in them.

He said that he 'noted with grief' that there have been a number of fatalities recently which he described as 'young lives wasted and futures destroyed'.

McMonagle was sentenced on Friday to two years in prison with half of the sentence to be served in custody and half with formal supervision.

He was also disqualified from driving for three years.