A Lurgan man who admitted breaking his electronic tag and was caught in possession of 14 pregabalin tablets on a separate date has been sentenced to four months in prison, to run alongside a sentence imposed last week for drug supply.
Paulo Santos, of Greenhill Park, appeared before Craigavon Magistrates’ Court on Friday via videolink from Maghaberry.
The 47-year-old was charged with possession of a Class C controlled drug and criminal damage.
The prosecution outlined that on October 23 last year, police had observed and stopped the defendant on Mourneview Avenue in Lurgan. On his person, police located 14 pregabalin tablets, to which the defendant made full admissions.
The second incident occurred on November 14, when police attended an address in regards to an outstanding bench warrant for the defendant. It had been issued on November 9 and, upon police arrival, the defendant was arrested.
Whilst police were dealing with these offences, the defendant told them he had cut off his electric tag. He was then arrested for criminal damage.
Aaron Thompson BL, defending, told the court that the defendant had recently been sentenced to 15 months imprisonment for a drugs supply case.
Presiding, District Judge Bernie Kelly imposed a sentence of four months in custody for the criminal damage charge, and two months in custody for the drugs possession charge.
District Judge Kelly added: “I’m going to take the somewhat unusual step of ordering that they will run concurrently with each other and concurrently with his current sentence.
“The reason for that somewhat unusual step is it doesn’t really make any difference to the length of sentence that he’s going to be serving, given the amount of time he’s got from the Crown Court.”
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