A Longford woman has told the local district court that she is living in fear of her neighbours and recently paid over €2500 of her annual carer's allowance to a drug dealer.
The woman appeared in court after being charged with giving a Roscommon man selling a mobile phone counterfeit sterling for the device.
The court heard the woman agreed to meet a Roscommon man who was selling a Samsung phone in September of last year in Granard for a price of €500.
The woman told the seller that she only had 450 pounds sterling for the phone, but when the man tried to change the money, he was discovered it was fake.
The woman claimed she had engaged in the incident under duress from a third party and her solicitor said she had got mixed up with what was described as "not good company".
She claimed that she was being intimidated by a family and had been forced to hand over €2500 this month after being accused of taking illegal drugs belonging to the individuals; a claim which she denied.
She also claimed that windows had been broken in her home as well as a car being burned out and she was now seeking to move away from the area.
€450 compensation was handed into court for the phone and the woman was told to return to court on October 27th to bring compensation for a number of theft charges she is also charged with.
