Gardaí discover €3,000 of heroin in young mum’s bedroom

A young mother who was using a bag of heroin a day and was found with €3,000 of the drug stashed in her bedroom would have been dead soon if Gardai had not found her, a court has heard.

Judge Marie Keane said this was “last chance saloon” for Sarah Howlett (27), of 323 Castle Park, Ballybane, when she pleaded guilty at Galway District Court to a plethora of shoplifting, handling stolen goods and drug-dealing charges, committed across the city since succumbing to the highly addictive drug.

Howlett pleaded guilty to stealing expensive, new release DVDs from Zhivago on Shop Street on July 4 last year.

She pleaded guilty to stealing more popular console games from Cex, Williamsgate Street, and handling the games from the store, knowing they were stolen on six different dates in June and July of this year.

Howlett also pleaded guilty to having €3,000 worth of heroin in her bedroom on January 21 last and having the drug for sale or supply.

She further pleaded guilty to stealing perfume and headphones from TX Maxx which were recovered, and a €400 Dyson vacuum cleaner from Curry’s in Terryland last month which was not recovered.

She finally pleaded guilty to stealing groceries and kids’ toys from Tesco at Galway Shopping Centre and to stealing other items from Homestore and More in Wellpark.

Handing letters from the HSE into court, defence solicitor, Olivia Traynor said her client has a very serious heroin addiction which she has been battling for some time.

She said Howlett’s situation was “absolutely dire” when Gardai raided her home in January and found the heroin.  Howlett’s children are already in care and their father died in tragic circumstances, Ms Traynor added.

“She was using a bag of heroin a day and Gardai feel she will be dead in a very short period of time if she does not get help,” Mr Traynor said.

She said Howlett had been discharged from the Beaumont Stabilisation Unit on April 5 last and was making every effort to get herself ‘clean’ before these offences were committed.

Ms Traynor said Howlett committed the offence to get money “to get her next fix”.

“When I saw her back in January she was in a very bad place. She looks a lot better now,” Ms Traynor said.

She asked Judge Marie Keane to adjourn sentence and give Howlett a chance to link in with the support services and see if she would engage with the probation service and get more help for her addiction.

Judge Keane said Howlett was quite a menace to Cex.

“She is repeatedly going in there to steal the most up-to-date box sets, including the Love/Hate one,” she observed.

Mr Traynor said Howlett had brought items into Cex to sell, and that was how she was caught and charged with handling stolen property.

Those offences, she pointed out, occurred between June 30 and July 8 last and were all committed to feed the heroin addiction.

Noting Howlett’s drug charges were serious, Judge Keane said she was faced with a dilemma.

“If I send her to jail – where she should go to protect the retailers of Galway – I’m concerned that her drug addiction is likely to get worse rather than better,” she said.

Judge Keane said it was with great reluctance she would order a probation report on Howlett prior to sentence.

She adjourned the matter to October for a probation report and told Howlett it was “last chance saloon” for her. “I’m sure you have the Gardai tormented,” the judge added.

Howlett, who looked pale and gaunt and who hugged her handbag to her chest during the hearing, promised Judge Keane she would co-operate with the probation service.