A Co Armagh man accused of carrying drugs back into prison between his buttocks following a 24-hour release for the birth of his daughter has been told it’s unlikely the court “will ever give him compassionate bail” again.
Jamie Geddis, of Rockmount Close, Newry, who is charged with aggravated vehicle taking, common assault, driving whilst disqualified, no insurance, criminal damage and theft, was making an application for bail at Craigavon Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
However, the 35-year-old’s defence barrister, Conor Lunny, conceded that what was alleged to have happened on his return to prison “makes this an altogether different bail application”.
The court heard that compassionate bail was granted on 5 February for the birth of his son.
However, a prison liaison officer reported that Geddis returned the following day and, during the reception process, was taken for an X-ray body scan, which he failed.
During the full body search by staff, an object wrapped in clear plastic fell from his buttocks.
While the substance, 13.7 grams in weight, is unknown, it is believed to be subutex and diazepam, but that has not been confirmed at this stage.
A prosecution lawyer pointed out 17 previous breaches of bail and five previous bench warrants.
“I accept what happened last Thursday, or what’s alleged to have happened last Thursday, makes this an altogether different bail application,” said Mr Lunny.
“He knows that the court will take one look at that record and potentially make up their mind already.”
Mr Lunny said that “for a period before the alleged commission of these offences, he’d actually been doing really quite well and achieved a certain level of stability”.
Mr Lunny argued that Geddis is hoping to be released to a house in Newry to live with his partner and newborn child.
“I’m led to believe this had been the address at which he’d achieved that stability before the commission of these [latest] offences,” he said.
“He’s a Lurgan man, originally from Taghnevan; spent most of his life there. I’ve known him since youth court. Lurgan and he do not go well together.
“There’s a number of elements in Lurgan. He knows a number of people. I’m not saying that he’s been led astray as his criminal record, by its very thickness, suggests that he is a man who can be blamed for a lot of his own actions.
“Extracting him from the Lurgan, north Armagh area in general, has shown – and there’s evidence to suggest this – that he can stay out of trouble.”
Mr Lunny said that while he had been in Newry, he was also working as a labourer in Dublin, “he has a day’s work in him.”
Addressing the alleged incident on his return to prison, Mr Lunny contended that “there were no issues whilst he was at the hospital and then at the house afterwards”.
“Mr Geddis probably wants me to say this to you. He instructs, for what it is worth, that he passed the body scan. He was in a holding room with another individual, who’s also being returned to the prison, and that individual asked him to hold onto that package whilst that individual went in for another check, or to be processed. Mr Geddis was then called in, and that’s when he’s caught with that package.”
District Judge Ranaghan queried: “So his defence is that somebody gave him a package, which he probably believed to be drugs, with the intention of giving it back to that person? So his defence is the intent to supply drugs?”
In refusing bail, the judge continued: “His record is appalling around dishonesty, and the belief I can put in this man, who has 13 thefts amongst other more serious offences of dishonesty.
“It’s a very lengthy record for a man of his age. He has an appalling history of breach of bail. He has an appalling history around bench warrants. His defence for the concealing of the items somewhere is that, in fact, he was intending to supply them to somebody – that’s this defence legally.
“If you get compassionate bail from any court, that court must expect you to be entirely squeaky clean, and I use the word squeaky very advisably given where that was found.
“I cannot be certain this man was at all squeaky clean around his compassionate bail. MrGeddis, I think, will never get a compassionate bail from me again. I think it’s unlikely, given what he has done, on whichever version of events is found to be proven, that any other court will ever give him compassionate bail.
“He is not a suitable candidate for ordinary bail in this case, or full bail on whichever ground you want to pick, but I’ll start with the two: risk of further offending and failing by the bail conditions.”
