By Sonya McLean
A promising international juvenile cricketer has been remanded on bail pending sentence after he was caught with cannabis at his home.
Harry Archer (23) of Kellys Bay Rocks, Skerries, Co. Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of the drugs at his home on January 18, 2022.
He has 13 previous convictions for drug offences and road traffic offences.
Fergal Foley BL, prosecuting, told the court that Archer was caught with €4,886 worth of the drug following a search at his home.
Archer told gardaí he had Covid-19 at the time of the search so he was not brought in for questioning.
He arranged to come to the garda station later.
Archer did not come to the station as promised and made no contact with the gardaí.
He was later in custody in relation to a separate case and was then taken in for questioning about this drug seizure.
He made no admissions during interview but came forward to the Circuit Criminal Court on signed pleas of guilty from the District Court.
The investigating garda agreed with Kelly Richardson BL, defending, that Archer’s family home has been targeted a number of times and reports made to the gardaí in relation to these various attacks.
Ms Richardson said Archer had played cricket successfully at an underage level for many clubs and represented both Leinster and Ireland at that level.
She said in fourth year in school, in 2017, Archer travelled to South Africa as part of a contingent to play cricket and was there for nine weeks.
He was later dropped from the Irish team and was subsequently not picked as an 18-year-old for the u19 Irish team.
Ms Richardson said Archer was hugely disappointed and fell into drug misuse.
His addiction escalated and resulted in a heavy drug debt that also involved his family being issued with threats.
Counsel said the gardaí were contacted on a number of occasions in relation to attacks at Archer’s family home.
She said her client tells her that getting caught with drugs in this case, “is the best that could have happened”.
He has been dealing with his addiction and is hopeful of being included on the Irish reserve cricket team in the future, counsel said.
Judge Orla Crowe adjourned to November 26, 2024 to allow for the preparation of a probation report. Archer was remanded on continuing bail until then.