A FARMER found with angel dust in his animal feed was jailed for 10 months yesterday. Michael, Frisby (52), married with four children, from Clogga, Mooncoin, Co Kilkenny, was also fined £1,000 at Carrick on Suir District Court.
Judge Michael Patwell told Frisby, who farms 30 acres at Ballyhemmin, Mullinavat, that he was worse than a terrorist. He said that those engaged in terrorism, however misguided, acted out of some kind of political or religious conviction. But people who used angel dust were double terrorists because in their greed, they were doing untold damage to the marketability of Irish produce while at the same time risking the health of consumers.
"The possible side effects could be horrific and we may not know what they are for another 30 years," he stated.
Judge Patwell said he could not do anything other than impose a prison sentence, no matter how much he felt for the defendant's wife and family. "If I had the power to do so, I would also ban him from all kinds of farming activity - from landowning, from going to the marts and from have ing anything to do with food other than eating it - but I don't have that power although maybe I should have," he commented.
The judge had heard from Department of Agriculture veterinary inspector Mr Michael Clancy how he visited the defendant's farm on August 13th, 1992, and took samples from three small plastic troughs which, when analysed, were found to contain clenbuterol, known as angel dust.
Ms Deirdre Lyons, solicitor for the defendant, who is a builder as well as a farmer, said he and his family were very upset and embarrassed by the proceedings. He would never have anything to do with the banned substance again.
. At Granard District Court, Stephen Grier, Cloughernal, Granard, Co Longford, was fined a total of £1,000 on two charges of possessing an animal to which the illegal growth promoter, trenbolone, had been administered on February 10th, 1995. A further charge of administering trenbolone to an animal was taken into account.