A man who works in Venezuela for $25 a week was rushed to Beaumont Hospital after a package of cocaine he ingested ruptured during a flight to Iceland via Spain, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
Johan Rafael Sandoval Monzon (45) required “urgent medical care” and spent 7 weeks in hospital after the flight he was on had to be diverted to Dublin Airport as the accused was having seizures amid an “immediate risk” to his life.
Garda Tanya Shinkins of Ballymun Garda Station gave evidence of how the accused was found to have swallowed 48 pellets of cocaine with a value of €40,768, which were removed from his body during an emergency surgery.
Medical staff at Beaumont handed over the pellets to Gardaí who interviewed the accused when he was deemed fit, whereupon he made full admissions in relation to the drugs.
The court heard that Monzon was “not a willing participant” in the drug smuggling, but was earning $25 per week in a shop and was promised $3,000 if he successfully delivered the drugs, which he believed would “get him out of poverty”.
After being approached by a third party who recruited him for the scheme, he travelled to Colombia where he was asked to inject “80 balls” of cocaine, which he wasn’t able to manage.
He went through a process of “passing an re-swallowing” the drugs in various locations while aiming to arriving in Iceland, the court heard.
He claims to have been threatened in respect of the drugs, with his defending counsel, Séamus Clarke SC, arguing that his client has suffered “serious consequences” because of the rupture which had required that he be “intubated” before and emergency laparotomy was preformed to save his life.
After this he developed a “pelvic collection” and had to be “monitored conservatively” because of the proximity to his spleen, Mr. Clarke said.
Judge Martin Nolan interjected to remark that the accused “ owes the State quite a bit of money,” due to the hospital care he received in Ireland.
Clarke asked the court to accept that Monzon’s circumstances were “very desperate” and that his culpability was not the same as someone from this jurisdiction that would get involved in similar criminality as he is, “coming from an impoverished country where there’s a regime of authoritarianism.”
The accused accepts that after his release from jail he will likely be deported and is “anxious” to return to his nine children and wife.
Judge Nolan said that the amount of cocaine involved was “substantial enough”, and that the State had experienced some “difficulty and expense” due to the situation.
He said that it was “unlikely” that the accused, who has no know previous conviction, would reoffend and that prison in Ireland would be difficult for him due to the “language barrier and absence of visitors”.
Monzon was sentenced to 2 years in prison which is to be backdated to the 1st of July this year to reflect when he entered custody.