FIFE TEENAGER DIED AFTER BUYING £20 BAG OF KETAMINE

A Fife woman sold ketamine to a teenager who died shortly after taking the drug.
The young man had arranged to buy the substance via Snapchat.
Drug dealer Safia Omar, 22, who did not know the deceased youth, avoided a jail sentence when she appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.
Omar, of Cowdenbeath, met the 18-year-old outside a local shop after he ordered the drugs on his phone.
The presiding sheriff said the case was warning to all those buying drugs saying, “You don’t know what’s in them and those who supply them don’t care.”
Omar (pictured leaving court) admitted that on 31st August last year at Leuchatsbeath Drive, Cowdenbeath, she was concerned in the supply of ketamine.
Depute fiscal Annie Henderson said the teenager was picked up by his cousin in his car and they spent a few hours going around the Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly area.
The teenager said he was going to buy ketamine via Snapchat.
He made arrangements to pick up the drugs in the street outside a local shop where Omar appeared.
She came to the passenger’s side of the vehicle and handed over the drugs.
The teenager snorted the white powder from his knuckles and was then driven home where he died.
The depute simply narrated that the young man “passed away on 1st September.”
Defence solicitor Chris Sneddon started his submission by pointing out, “The charge is supplying a £20 bag of a category ‘B’ drug.”
At that point, Sheriff Lindsay Fowlis interrupted to say, “Yes that’s what she’s charged with. I know it’s not culpable homicide.
“However, this is an attempt to say, ‘Ach well, it’s a category B drug, she’s only 22 and was 20 at the time. So, you know, it’s not really that bad’.
“What I’m doing is putting it in context. As a consequence of the supply of drugs, an 18-year-old has lost his life.
“That’s the problem of being involved in the supply of illicit substances. You don’t know what’s in them and those who supply them don’t care.
“As a result, this is what can happen.”
The sheriff noted from the social work report that Omar had admitted she had agreed to store drugs in her home.
He went on, “She was providing a property for drugs to be stored, taking account of what she’s said.”
Mr Sneddon said, “She does not try to minimise what has happened. She’s a person who works and she’s not unintelligent.
“It’s fair to say she feels responsible for more than what she’s been charged with. She’s under no illusion of the sentence the court can impose on her.”
The sheriff told the first offender, “If you’re in the drugs chain, you’ve no idea what you’re passing on and there can be tragic results. In this case, the life an 18-year-old has been cut short.”
The sheriff imposed a community payback order with 200 hours of unpaid work.