A Computer Science graduate from Trinity College Dublin is facing a minimum 10-year jail sentence for his role in the importation of over €29 million worth of cocaine into Ireland. A court has heard Gareth Hopkins used the fake name Gary Kelly to organise the shipment of the drugs in a container which arrived at Dublin Port on June 18th last year.
423 kilos of cocaine were hidden inside timbers. On arrival the consignment was transported to warehouses.
Garda intelligence led to the discovery of the drugs during raids at Ballycoolin in West Dublin and at Gareth Hopkins’s family home in Leixlip.
Four slabs of cocaine were found in a shed at the back of his house along with a notebook containing details on how to divide the drugs.
Following his arrest, Gareth Hopkins initially told gardai he had acted under duress but he later retracted that statement and last January pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine for sale and supply on June 26th, 2012. His barrister Patrick Marrinan, SC, told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that the 33-year-old comes from a humble family in Cabra and graduated with an honours degree from TCD in 2003.
He played rugby, enjoyed boxing and worked as a property manager until his redundancy in 2012.
Financial difficulties & stress
Mr. Marrinan described the father of one as an entrepreneur with extensive legitimate business interests including a small diamond mining firm in Sierra Leone. The defence handed in a number of references to the court from charities detailing Gareth Hopkins’s extensive work and donations.
The court heard he has no previous convictions and that his fall from grace results from financial difficulties following his redundancy and stress caused by the death of his sister.
Mr. Marrinan said Gareth Hopkins hopes to carry out a PhD while in prison. The mandatory minimum sentence is 10 years in prison. He is currently on remand at Cloverhill Prison.
Judge Mary Ellen Ring said it was clearly one of the more serious offences of this nature. She will finalise sentencing on June 10th.
