Kinsale woman pleads guilty in ‘cocaine lab' case

A KINSALE woman and three Dubliners have been remanded in custody after pleading guilty this week to drug offences following the discovery of an elaborate cocaine extraction laboratory in Bantry last year.

Molly Sloyan (25) from Abbey Court, Kinsale, but with an address at Benidorm, Alicante in Spain, pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court this week to possessing cocaine for sale or supply at Seascape, Dromleigh, Bantry on November 26th last.

Sloyan’s co-accused, Dubliners Sean McManus (37) from Burrowfield Road, Baldoyle and father and son, William (51) and Dean Gilsenan (27), both of Kilmahuddrick Green, Clondalkin, all pleaded guilty  to the same offence when they were arraigned in Cork.

Judge Sean Ó Donnabháin adjourned sentencing until May 8th to allow for a governor’s report in the case of the three men, and a report from a psychologist on Molly Sloyan. He remanded all four in custody to appear in court again on that date.

No details were given of the offences, but when the four were first charged at Bandon District Court last year, it was alleged by gardai that all four accused had all been found at the scene of a cocaine extraction laboratory in Bantry where gardai recovered a kilo of cocaine worth in excess of €70,000.

Gardai alleged that the four were involved in setting up, or operating, the elaborate laboratory where a chemical called isopropranol was being used to leach cocaine from fabric imported from Brazil, and a kilo of the drug had already been extracted when gardai raided the premises.

Objecting to bail for Gilsenan Jnr at Bandon District Court, Det Garda Andrew Manning said the State would allege a package of fabric embedded with cocaine was posted to his Dublin address, while isopropranol was posted to him at a Kinsale address and paid for using a credit card with his name. Objecting to bail for McManus at Bandon District Court, Det Garda Padraig Sleator said the State would allege that Mr McManus had instructed his co-accused on how to extract cocaine from fabric using isopropranol and had sent them a video on how to carry out the process.

Objecting to bail for Gilsenan Snr, Det Garda Colin O’Mahony told Bandon District Court the State would allege that Mr Gilsenan was at Seascape in Bantry from November 13th and was left in charge of the operation there, from then until the premises was searched under warrant on November 26th.

And objecting to bail for Sloyan, Det Garda Shannon Ryan told Bandon District Court the State would allege the Kinsale woman had organised flights for her co-accused to Ireland, a house for them to stay in Kinsale, the ordering of isopropranol and the rental of the house in Bantry, where the laboratory was found.

The hearing also heard from Insp Brian Murphy who told Judge Mary Dorgan at the Bandon District Court hearing that gardaí believed the cocaine extraction operation in Bantry had ‘at its core an organised crime group with international links’.