Father puts up his life savings of €100,000 for son over €33m crystal meth seizure
Gardaí opposing bail for former garden centre director on drug charges
THE father of a businessman charged in connection with the State’s biggest crystal meth seizure has said he will put his €100,000 life savings ‘on the line’ to secure his son’s bail.
Michael McDonnell told the High Court that he had the ‘utmost faith’ his son, former garden centre director Nathan McDonnell, would not leave the country before his trial.
Nathan McDonnell, 43, yesterday appeared in Cloverhill courthouse via video link from Portlaoise Prison. Det Sgt Ernie Henderson confirmed that Mr McDonnell was charged with possession of drugs worth more than €13,000 for sale or supply at Ballyseedy Garden Centre in Tralee, Co. Kerry, between October 27 last and February 12 this year.
Teresa Lowe BL, for the State, said the offence was extremely serious, and carried a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, and a minimum mandatory term of ten years.
Michael McDonnell, 71, told the court his life savings would run up to €100,000, adding: ‘I am quite prepared to put it on the line for
‘In my opinion, he is not a flight risk’
bail for my son, as in my opinion he is not a flight risk.’
He said he had grown up in a small town outside Tralee, that his own father died when he was 15 and that he had worked ever since. He has operated a passenger ship in Athlone town for the last 26 years, and previously worked in the agricultural sector, the court heard. ‘I was thinking of slowing down a little bit at this stage, but that might not happen now for a while,’ he said. He also said his son had close family and friends in Tralee.
Opposing bail, Det Sgt Henderson told Judge Karen O’Connor that on February 15 this year, the Kerry Divisional Drugs Unit had gone to the Cork Port, where they had examined a machine purporting to be an electromagnetic metal separating machine.
It was due to be exported to Australia, he said.
In a ‘sophisticated concealed area’ of the container, the gardaí discovered 546kg of meth amphetamine, which he said was commonly known as crystal meth. It had a street value of €32.8million, the court heard.
On February 16, gardaí carried out a number of searches in the Cork and Kerry area, arising from the discovery of the drugs, which included Nathan McDonnell’s garden centre, he said.
Det Sgt Henderson said that officers had obtained CCTV footage from February 12, allegedly showing Mr McDonnell at the garden centre, operating a forklift which he was using to load the machine into a container, bound for Cork Port.
He said CCTV footage also showed Mr McDonnell allegedly having a meeting with his coaccused in his office at the garden centre on February 7.
He said officers also had evidence to show that Mr McDonnell contacted an ‘innocent party’ in Australia, and agreed to pay them €5,000 to use their tax number. That number would be given to the shipping agent at Cork Port to get the machine out to Australia, he said.
He said gardaí had information suggesting that the machine would be intercepted in Australia and taken to another address, not to the person who had allowed their VAT number to be used to land the cargo.
‘The machine was disguised as an electromagnetic separator but in actual fact it was just a cover,’ he continued.
‘From our examination, there’s no electronics set up on it. There is no actual function of the machine. Its sole purpose was to conceal a large amount of methamphetamine.’ He said Garda investigations had found that the drugs were packed in such a way that there was concrete around the sealed bags, ‘obviously to protect what was inside and to protect it from customs inspections’.
Det Sgt Henderson said it was alleged that Mr McDonnell had created a false invoice to allow the machine to be delivered to the garden centre, valuing it at €115,000, and that he’d paid the storage and customs charges.
He said gardaí were objecting to bail being granted based on the seriousness of the offence, the evidence gathered, Mr McDonnell’s potential flight risk, and a risk of further offences being committed while he is on bail.
He said Mr McDonnell had been the director of 11 companies, which had a combined turnover of between €4.5million and €5million in mid-February. He said Mr McDonnell had since relinquished control of those companies, and was liquifying his assets.
‘He has the means and funds to avoid prosecution and flee the jurisdiction,’ the detective said.
Defence counsel Keith Branagan said Nathan McDonnell denied knowing there were drugs in the machine.
He said Mr McDonnell had cooperated with gardaí, and was not a flight risk, due to his family connections and his father’s offer to put up €100,000 as a surety.
Judge O’Connor said she would decide on Tuesday whether to grant Mr McDonnell bail.
‘In fact it was just a cover’