A police officer said yesterday that he found a jar containing suspected drugs during the search of a Warwick home launched after a gun was discovered at the property.

Desiree O’Connor has denied charges that she possessed a firearm, ammunition and freebase cocaine with intent to supply in an incident in 2024.

When the trial began on Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard that William Tull, an electrician, called police after he found a handgun in the ceiling of Ms O’Connor’s home while attempting to repair a lighting issue on September 13, 2024.

The jury was also shown photographs of the home and video recordings from the search, including a clip of a police dog directing officers towards a nightstand.

As the trial continued yesterday, Pc Iriah Freeman told the court that he was assigned to carry out a search of the residence on the day the weapon was found, and also attended an apartment as well as a stand-alone cottage on the property.

He told the court that while searching one of the bedrooms, he noticed paperwork in the name of Denise O’Connor along with women’s clothing.

Pc Freeman said he was directed to a nightstand on the left side of the bed where he found a box labelled “magni stash”.

He said: “It was located in the top drawer of the nightstand along with female or feminine items.

“In the box, I found a jar with a silver top. In that jar was some clear plastic twists with a chalklike substance which I suspected was a controlled drug.”

Under cross-examination by Marc Daniels, for Ms O’Connor, Pc Freeman maintained that the nightstand on the left side of the bed contained feminine items, but accepted that he had not included that detail in his written statement.

He said: “There was a notes officer. I don’t know what the notes officer recorded.”

Mr Freeman also accepted that he had found documents with the defendant’s name in the nightstand on the opposite side of the bed.

He also said that during the search of the cottage on the property, he had seen a “magni stash” box similar to that which he had seen in the defendant’s home.

Mr Daniels suggested that the officer had actually seen the box in an apartment on the property.

While he was shown photographs of the apartment, which appeared to show a similar box along with photographs of the apartment’s resident, Pc Freeman maintained that he had seen the box in the cottage.

Pc Freeman also confirmed that before he was tasked with searching the home, he had been instructed to take a woman whom he identified as the girlfriend of the apartment’s resident to Hamilton Police Station.

Neither the resident in the apartment, nor the resident in the cottage can be identified for legal reasons.

The court also heard evidence from an armed response unit officer who attended the home on the morning of September 13.

He told the court that when he arrived, he was directed to the bedroom closet by Mr Tull and, after putting on gloves and removing his body armour vest, he climbed a ladder to look into the ceiling with a flashlight.

The officer said he quickly noticed a fabric tote-style bag, which he picked up and brought back down the ladder.

He said inside the tote bag was another self-sealed bag containing a darker bag. Inside that bag, he said, he noticed a vacuum-sealed firearm.

The officer said: “It was a black handgun with a magazine clip. Additionally there was another vacuum-sealed bag with a handful of bullets.”

The trial continues.

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