A man who attempted to smuggle nearly €500,000 worth of cocaine into Ireland has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison.
Geovane Ferrnandes (31), a Brazilian national, was caught at Dublin Airport earlier this year carrying 6.7kg of the drug in his luggage.
He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possessing cocaine with a street value of €489,790 for sale or supply at Terminal One, Dublin Airport, on March 18th last.
At a hearing last week, the court heard that Ferrnandes had been offered $10,000 Brazilian real, the equivalent of about €2,000, in exchange for transporting the drugs.
Counsel for Ferrnandes said one of his daughters is severely afflicted with asthma and is frequently hospitalised for weeks at a time, requiring expensive treatment.
The court heard Ferrnandes did not receive any money for his role in the smuggling operation.
Passing sentence on Wednesday, Judge Orla Crowe said drug couriers play a “vital role” in trafficking drugs into this country and that Ferrnandes should have realised the penalties he would incur.
Judge Crowe set a headline sentence of six years but imposed a term of three and a half years, backdated to when Ferrnandes went into custody in March.
Garda Peter Elliot told Simon Matthews BL, prosecuting, that customs officers stopped Ferrnandes after his luggage showed an anomaly under X-ray.
Ferrnandes was arrested and told gardaí that he had travelled to Dublin from Brazil via Madrid. He said he had packed his bag himself but that he had met an unknown woman who had given him a parcel to put in his luggage.
Ferrnandes said he had no idea what was in the package and did not take drugs himself. He said he planned to go to Drogheda and learn English for six or seven months.
He has no previous convictions in Ireland or any other jurisdiction.
Garda Elliot agreed with Michael O’Higgins SC, defending, that Ferrnandes had extremely poor English and presented as “frightened and scared” when interviewed by gardaí.
The garda also agreed that Ferrnandes’s daughter suffers from very severe asthma.
Mr O’Higgins said Ferrnandes was reared in a very violent household with no formal education. His father, a bartender, was very physically abusive to his mother and brothers.
His mother suffered a stroke ten years ago and is in very poor health, the court heard.
The court heard that Ferrnandes’s first job was at the age of nine when he worked shifts at a chicken abattoir from 1am to midnight.
He has worked in various industries, including construction, hospitality, cleaning and car valeting.
Ferrnandes’s daughter is housebound after school due to her severe asthma and requires hospital treatment twice a week, the court heard.
Counsel said it was against the background of this expensive medical treatment for his daughter that Ferrnandes had succumbed to a request to carry a parcel for money.
The court heard that Ferrnandes is extremely remorseful and has apologised to gardaí. He is the only Portuguese speaker in his area of prison and is extremely isolated, getting only one phone call a week to his family.
Counsel said Ferrnandes’ only comfort is a Portuguese bible that he requested from prison staff.
He has undertaken never to return to Ireland once he has served his sentence, the court heard.
“These are sad cases - he is a long way from home. His personal circumstances are dreadful,” Mr O’Higgins said of Ferrnandes.
Judge Crowe acknowledged that prison was particularly difficult for someone in Ferrnandes’ situation, but said he had been caught “red-handed” with a significant quantity of cocaine.
