A north-east dad who turned to drugs as he struggled to cope with lockdown says he has turned his life around since being caught taking cocaine in an Aberdeen phonebox.
Matthew De Silva was caught by police taking the Class A drug in St Nicholas Street last August.
Fiscal depute Rebecca Thompson told Aberdeen Sheriff Court how De Silva was spotted in the phonebox by police officers on foot patrol at around 9.25pm on August 28, 2020.
“They approached him and found he had a small quantity of white powder on the metal ledge within the phonebox,” she said.
“He was cautioned and charged and found in possession of other drugs.”
De Silva had 1.5g of heroin, with a value of around £70, as well as £10 worth of cocaine weighing around 0.1g.
The 40-year-old did not appoint a solicitor and instead represented himself in court.
He told Sheriff Margaret Hodge: “It was in the middle of lockdown, I was on furlough and away from my family and friends.
“I was living in Aberdeen and they were in Banchory and I was struggling.
“However my family has spent £17,500 on a rehab programme and I spent 56 days in a facility in Leicester.”
‘I was struggling’
The father-of-two said this helped him get “totally free of drugs”.
“I’m off methadone, off everything,” he added. “Since I got back I have been trying to retrain career-wise and I’ve also moved away from Aberdeen to get away from the drugs scene and the people I was associating with at the time.”
Sheriff Hodge fined De Silva, of Ash tree Road, Banchory, a total of £210.
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