Illegal animal drugs not seen before in Ireland by Department of Agriculture investigators were found on a Tipperary farm during a raid in September 1996, Borrisokane District Court heard yesterday. During the raid a farmer's wife, Mary Hogan, of Lacken, Nenagh, concealed drugs in her dressing gown and held the door of a bathroom against a Department investigator, Mr Brian Flaherty.
He told Judge James O'Connor that Mary Hogan had gone into the bathroom where he saw her take something from a board behind the toilet.
He said she put something into her dressing-gown pocket and held the door of the toilet against him for 15 or 20 minutes despite him advising her she could face charges of obstruction.
He said Hogan pretended she was going to faint and demanded to sit in a soft armchair where he saw her put something under the cushion. He retrieved this item and found it was an illegal animal remedy. He said other drugs were found in a drawer under the bed in unmarked bottles. Mary Hogan and her husband, Gerard, denied knowing anything about them.
He said that in a later interview with the couple, Gerard Hogan said he had used the antibiotic found during the raid for lame cows and had acquired the drugs other than those his wife, Mary, who worked for a pharmaceutical company, had got from work.
Mr Flaherty said a new combination of drugs he had not seen before during his time at the Department investigating illegal growth hormones had been uncovered in the raid. He said the couple had refused to reveal their source.
Mr Sean Moylan BL for the couple, who pleaded guilty to possessing the hormones and the antibiotics, said they had never been in court before.
Mr Frank Quirke, for the Department, said the Hogans were substantial farmers running a dairy farm and a beef fattening unit. At the last test there were 539 beasts on the farm and direct payments from the EU in 1998 would amount to £17,336.
Judge O'Connor said the couple had pleaded guilty to a despicable crime and had been anything but helpful to the investigators.
He sentenced Mary Hogan to six months in prison, suspended on condition that she carry out 240 hours' community service. He also fined her £500 on each of two charges, one of possessing illegal animal remedies and the second for obstructing the investigation.
He imposed two six-month suspended sentences on Gerard Hogan, ordering that he also carry out 240 hours' community service. He ordered that he pay £2,000 into the court poor box and imposed further fines of £1,500. He also ordered the couple to pay £500 each to the cost of the case.