A pharmacist who admitted selling drugs without a prescription for his own financial gain has walked free from court with an 11 month prison sentence suspended for three years.
Gerard Cullinan (48), of Hillside Crescent in Belfast, entered guilty pleas on behalf of his company Castlereagh Pharmacy Ltd to selling or supplying prescription drugs, namely the painkiller drug Co-codamol and the opioid drug Fentanyl, without a prescription on dates between January 2017 and June 2020.
He further pleaded guilty on behalf of the Castlereagh Road-based pharmacy in east Belfast to five counts of failing to keep a register of drugs at the premises, namely Morphine, Morphine Sulphate, Methylphenidate, Tapentadol, Fentanyl and Oxycodone.
As the director of the company, Mr Cullinan, a registered pharmacist since 1997, separately pleaded guilty to selling or supplying drugs, namely Co-codamol and Fentanyl without a prescription.
He also entered guilty pleas that as a director of Castlereagh Pharmacy Ltd he failed to keep a register of drugs at the premises.
Under legislation, drugs dispensed in community pharmacies are strictly controlled and pharmacies are required to keep records of all supplies.
The court heard they must be updated on a daily basis and failure to comply with this is an offence under the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act.
Prosecutor David McNeill said that following the conclusion of the criminal proceedings, there would be a ‘fitness to practice hearing’ with the Pharmaceutical Society.
Defence counsel Kieran Mallon KC said: “There has been an avalanche of consequences in this case for this accused as a result of his criminality.
Mr Mallon said the defendant recognised the “level of shame he has brought upon himself and the profession and has demonstrated to the author of the pre-sentence report his contriteness and fully recognises what he has done to himself, his profession and his family.
“There has been a complete and absolute fall from grace for this accused. He is under absolutely no illusion of the shame he has brought on his family. His motivation was purely financial.”
Judge Gordon Kerr KC said Cullinan’s offences were a “serious breach of the high degree of trust placed on him as a registered pharmacist”.
“The offences were committed over a significant period of time and concerned a number of different drugs,” he said.
“The motive for this appears to have been a desire for additional income for the pharmacy by operating outside the rules.”
Judge Kerr fined the company £8,000.