Former army officer jailed for transporting €100,000 worth of cocaine

A former South African army officer who "saw an easy way out" of his financial difficulties as a courier of cocaine valued over €100,000 has been given a ten years sentence by Judge Desmond Hogan.

Stevern Gouws, (aged 35) from Edenville, Johannesburg was offered €1,000 by "a stranger" to bring a suitcase laden with cocaine in a hidden compartment to Dublin Airport

Gouws pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to being in possession of the cocaine valued €103,721 for sale or supply and to importing it into Ireland on April 27, 2007.

Judge Hogan said he had to take into account the "devastation this drug brings to society" and the fact that at his age Gouws should have known what he was doing.

He suspended the last three years of the sentence noting that Gouws had no previous convictions and would not have the usual support of family and friends that Irish prisoners experienced in custody.

Garda Trevor Bulger told prosecuting counsel, Mr Paul Carroll BL, that customs officers at Dublin Airport found the cocaine secreted in Gouws’ luggage.

Gouws told gardaí he needed money to fix a motorbike that had been destroyed in an accident. He agreed to bring a suitcase to Ireland after a man approached him in a hotel in Nairobi and offered him €1,000 to do so.

The father-of-two admitted he suspected drugs would be in the suitcase but he wasn’t sure how much or what kind of drugs would be involved. He had no previous convictions.

Gda Bulger agreed with defence counsel, Mr Conor Devalley SC, that Gouws was left unemployed after the accident because he had no transportation for his job as a sales representative and he was also left with hospital bills from the "significant" injuries he suffered in the crash.

Mr Devalley told Judge Hogan that Gouws suspected he was overheard in a Nairobi hotel talking about his difficulties and he was then approached by a man who "dangled this prospect in front of him" which he took "in order to get back on the road and into employment".

He said Gouws had a severe alcohol addiction which he said developed after he served in the South African army during "difficult times".

Mr Devalley said: "My client has great regrets and apologises for allowing himself to succumb to such a silly risk."