Brendan Daly – an inspector with the Agriculture Department was giving evidence in the case against the Tipperary horse trainer for the alleged possession of unlicenced animal remedies at South Lodge on January 18th 2012.
However under cross examination council Defence Counsel Johnny Walshe accused Mr Daly of being in breach of protocols during the inspection and that this was a breach of his client’s constitutional rights.
Department Inspector Brendan Daly told the court that the first person he and a colleague Noel Kelly met on the day of the inspection was Philip Fenton who invited them into his office However Mr Daly said he then rushed to the office and closed the door and as they approached – Mr. Fenton's secretary Sasha Maxwell left the office and hurried across the a green area.
Mr Daly said he followed her and in a subsequent search near the Medicine Store – he discovered a cardboard box hidden under a horse rug- 6 samples taken from the 20 plus items were indentified as Antibiotics and Steroids – including 20 mls of Ilium Stanabolic and a kilo of Nitrotain paste.
The court heard Mr Fenton said he owned the box and the property was his but were mainly administered by his vet and when asked why it was hidden – the horse trainer said it was to lesson the effect of the inspection.
The inspectors were then given prescriptions but they were found to be out of date and during a visit to Mr Fenton's vet later – they found his secretary writing up scripts.
Under cross examination Defence Counsel Johnny Walshe accused the inspector of failing to follow correct protocol during the search, by failing to caution his client, not having official Agriculture department exhibit sheets, not immediately labelling the items or getting Mr Fenton's signature before taking the box away.
Mr Walshe also questioned why the items were stored at a secure location at Mr Daly's home and not at the Department for several weeks before testing and pointed out that they had seized further medicines during a separate raid elsewhere.
Mr Daly admitted that perhaps it was not acceptable but denied Mr Washes’ claim that he had in effect trampled all over Mr Fenton's constitutional rights.
