A man agreed to smuggle his friend’s stash of drugs through security at a music festival after being told his pal was afraid of dogs, a court has heard. A sniffer dog at the gate picked up the tablets Joshua Donne was carrying for his mate and the police were called.
The 21-year-old’s advocate told Swansea Crown Court his client had felt under pressure to carry the bag of pills and has expressed his remorse for the “stupid and naïve offence”. The court heard the identity of the person who passed Donne the pills remains unknown.
Harry Dickens, prosecuting, told the court that on September 7 last year the defendant, in the company of friends, attended the Logic music festival at Ynysforgan Farm near the M4 in Swansea. He said at the gates a sniffer dog picked up a scent on Donne and when security guards searched him he was found to be carrying a bag containing 28 tablets which turned out to be MDMA or ecstasy. The search also uncovered a small amount of the drug ketamine and a small amount of cocaine. Donne was detained and the police were called. The court heard the defendant’s home address was searched but no items related to drugs were found, and likewise an examination of his phone found no messages relating to drugs.
The court heard that in his police interview Donne told officers a friend had asked him to carry the bag of tablets through security for him as he did not like dogs. He admitted he was a “casual user” of drugs and said the small quantities of ketamine and cocaine had previously been purchased when he had attended the Creamfields music festival in Cheshire. For the latest court reports, sign up to our crime newsletter here
Joshua Donne, of Bryn Parc, Plasmarl, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to possession of MDMA with intent to supply and to the simple possession of cocaine and ketamine when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. The plea was entered on the basis that he intended to return the MDMA to the person who had given it to him once they were inside the festival. He has no previous convictions.
John Allchurch, for Donne, said his client had attended the music festival with two friends, one of whom had asked him to take the MDMA onto the site with the “pretence or subterfuge” that he was supposedly afraid of dogs. He said Donne was asked “more than once” to take the bag and “felt under pressure” to do so. He said the defendant had previously bought ketamine and cocaine while attending the Creamfields music festival a few weeks before the Swansea festival and had decided to take what was left with him on the day in question. The advocate added that Donne was a young man with a job and no previous convictions, and he said he had expressed his remorse for the “stupid and naïve offence”.
Judge Geraint Walters said Donne had attended the music festival with friends and with a quantity of drugs. He told the defendant he had agreed to carry the MDMA and “at that point your luck ran out”. The judge said it was of concern that people were taking drugs into a music festival in order to “peddle them to others” and said that was something the courts did not look kindly upon. However, he said he would sentence Donne being faithful to the basis of plea which had been agreed by the prosecution. He added that “in real life” ketamine was animal tranquiliser used by vets on horses and he told Donne its use was the start of a “slippery slope that never ends well”.
Donne was made the subject of a two-year community order and must complete a rehabilitation course and do 200 hours of unpaid work. The defendant must also pay £300 towards prosecution costs and a victim surcharge of £114.
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