£40,000 of cocaine in his under pants

May 1994

A Dublin man who tried to smuggle £40,000 worth of cocaine through Rosslare Port in his underpants has been jailed for seven years at Wexford Circuit Court.

However, on hearing extraordinary details of the background to the offence, Judge Diarmuid O’Shea ordered that the defendant be brought before him again in November, when he would consider suspending the sentence.

The court heard that [NAME AND ADDRESS WITHELD] was found with 244g of 84% pure cocaine in a sock hidden in his underpants by customs officers who searched him when he stepped off the St. Killian ferry from Cherbourg on November 28 last year.

Prior to the offence, the accused, who is married with one child, had been employed by the Royal Liver Assurance company and was twice attacked and robbed while out on collection rounds.

In the first attack, he was held up by a gang armed with a shotgun, and during the second attack he had a knife held to his throat and was stabbed with filled syringe.

The events had a devastating effect on him and he could not return to work. He marriage had then broken up and he was under psychiatric care at the time of the offence, making him ‘a soft target’ for those who planned the drug run.

He had no previous convictions of any kind and it was the opinion of the investigating Garda that he would not re-offend. His family and his wife were sticking by him and had travelled from Dublin to be with him in court.

Judge Sheridan said he would have to have ‘a heart of stone’ not be affected by details of the defendant’s experiences. But he said he could not take the risk of giving encouragement to those involved in the ‘vile’ drugs trade by being lenient to him.

In the circumstances, he said he would impose a seven-year sentence which he would review with a view to suspending it at the November sessions of the court.