Mum’s desperate plea to Killyleagh drug dealers

Mum’s desperate plea to Killyleagh drug dealers

14 June 2017

DRUG dealers are operating from the Bridge Centre play park in Killyleagh, a distraught mother has warned.

The woman is devastated after her teenage son was hospitalised after buying a single pill from dealers in the local park on Saturday evening.

The woman, who asked not to be named to protect her child’s identity, said she is haunted by thoughts she might have been forced to “bury him” because of his reaction to the drug.

Violent and irrational, she said he had to be physically restrained because of his behaviour shortly after purchasing the £10 tablet.

Determined to self-harm, she said he had to be monitored around the clock for his own safety, leaving his mother at a “total loss”.

Devastated by the incident, she has now warned parents that other young people may be at risk from predatory drug dealers in the play park and says she fears someone will die before the dealing stops.

After taking the drugs, she said her son made his way to Ballynahinch with friends where serious trouble broke out among a crowd gathered in the town square.

His mother rushed to Ballynahinch to restrain him after his friends reported he was out of control.

Although she acknowledges he was not forced to take the drug, she said her son was very naive and keen to fit in with the crowd.

The woman, who is community worker, said he was particularly vulnerable due to underlying medical conditions in which drug dealers are not interested.

“He was with friends and I gave him £10 because he wanted to go out. It turns out he spent all his money on the drug,” she said.

“He thought it was an E-tab but whatever he took sent him over the edge. The change in him was awful, he was violent and determined to hurt himself.

“When he was in hospital he was threatening to take his own life. He did not calm down until 8am the next day and for days afterwards we have had to watch him.

“I have to supervise his every move in case he goes off on one.”

The woman said she had to take time off work to ensure her son was not left alone.

Although she suspected in the past that he had taken drugs, she said she was unable to prove it.

This weekend, however, she said her older son saw the dealers in the park and watched them hand over small parcels in exchange for cash.

“My son has now confirmed he started taking drugs a few months ago, taking half a tablet and working his way up to a full one,” she said.

“The talk is that these people come from Belfast to sell the drugs in Killyleagh.

“They have to think what they are doing. They are going to kill someone. Is that what has to happen to make them stop? I could have been burying my son.”

Killyleagh councillor Billy Walker said he was concerned about drugs in the town, which were a problem in the past and seemed to be “raising their head again”.

He said he believed unrest in Ballynahinch was also fuelled by drug taking, which shows the problem spreads wider than Killyleagh.

“I appeal to parents to ask where their children are,” he said.

“We are getting state-of-the-art CCTV in the Bridge Centre area, which will hopefully help Killyleagh, and will stop people coming into the town to well drugs,” he said.

“This is so worrying for parents. The worry is that this will end in tragedy, it only takes one dodgy pill.”