Cookstown mum-of-three who had 'been keeping the wrong company' is fined for possessing cannabis

Thirty-three-year-old Roxanna Bourne, from Main Street, Tullyhogue, Cookstown, admitted two counts of possessing the drug on December 16 2021.

Imposing the fines, Deputy District Judge Sean O’Hare told Bourne she had been interacting with a negative peer group at the time.

Prosecuting counsel told Dungannon Magistrates Court, sitting in Omagh, on Friday that police on mobile patrol in the Moneymore area had been following a car in the direction of Cookstown checking insurance details and lost sight of the vehicle for a time before finding that it had crashed into a hedgerow.

He said the defendant was a passenger in the vehicle and she was arrested along with the other occupant and taken to Coleraine police station.

The lawyer said subsequent searches of property uncovered 11 grams and 1.4 grams of cannabis.

The defendant told police the drugs were for personal use, counsel added.

Admitting the offences, defence lawyer said the defendant accepted she did recreational drug use in the past but now had three children and was in a settled relationship.

He pointed out that the offences happened in 2021, and there has been no further offending by the defendant.

Judge O’Hare said he accepted Bourne that been keeping the wrong company.

He made a destruction order for the seized cannabis and allowed time for the defendant to pay the fines.