A man jailed for importing more than €8 million of cocaine into Ireland from France in 2022 in a four-seater light aircraft has told a jury the pilot did not know there were drugs on board.
Timothy Gilchrist took the stand in the trial of Cessna pilot Michal Luczak at Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court.
"I didn't want to tell him I was carrying anything suspicious because he would have gone straight to the authorities," Gilchrist said.
The 44-year-old pilot has pleaded not guilty to unlawful possession of cocaine, possessing it for the purpose of sale or supply, and the possession and importation of drugs worth €13,000 or more at Abbeyshrule Aerodrome, Co Longford, on 4 August 2022.
Father of one Gilchrist, aged 57, of Mavis Bank, Newrath, Co Kilkenny, told the four women and eight men of the jury that he had been threatened and attacked a few years before, and he did not really have a choice.
He said these people knew he was interested in flying, and he feared for his daughter's life and his own; afterwards, he was told to bring the bags back from France.
The trial, which commenced on 7 October and involved more than 50 witnesses, has heard that a Cessna 182 aircraft, owned by eight shareholders, including Mr Luczak, left Abbeyshrule Aerodrome bound for Le Touquet Airport in France on 3 August.
Mr Luczak was accompanied by Timothy Gilchrist, and the pair stayed overnight before flying to Dieppe airport, also in France, the next day.
Jurors heard that the aircraft returned with 120 kilos of cocaine in six bags. A garda surveillance operation had been put in place at Abbeyshrule Aerodrome, where the Cessna was unloaded. All six bags were put in Gilchrist’s Alfa Romeo car and driven away before being stopped by gardaí at Lough Owel outside Mullingar, Co Westmeath.
Mr Luczak, formerly of Primrose Avenue, Jigginstown, Naas, Co Kildare, and now residing in Dublin 12, left the aerodrome in a black Mercedes car. He was stopped and arrested by gardaí at Collinstown, Co Westmeath.
Gilchrist testified that he had received a 12-year sentence with six months suspended after he pleaded guilty previously to importing the 120 blocks of cocaine.
Questioned by his barrister, Niall Flynn (with John Shortt SC), he said he knew Mr Luczak for two or three years beforehand and was introduced by a friend.
He said he used to live in Uganda, wanted to learn to fly, and joined a Waterford aero-club. However, he never learned, and he cancelled his membership in 2020 after being diagnosed with cancer.
He said he contacted the defendant because he wanted to fly with him, and said Mr Luczak replied that it would be great because he wanted to become a commercial pilot and he could get more flying hours.
Gilchrist told the trial that he would pay for the fuel, and they made eight to ten trips to England, Belgium, and France, and he often brought back boxes of wine.
He testified that on 3 August, they flew to Le Touquet but could not return that day due to an air traffic control strike, fog, and darkness, he said. They stayed in a hotel about 10 miles away.
Gilchrist, the sole defence witness in the trial, said he went looking at sights and received a phone call from people who had threatened him previously, instructing him to collect bags at Dieppe Airport, which he said was a 10 to 15 minute flight away.
He told the jurors he felt sick from a reflux problem, and when they took off on 4 August, he informed the defendant he needed to use a toilet, but there was not one on the plane, so they landed in Dieppe.
Mr Luczak went off to speak to a man he knew, who may have been one of the bosses there, named Philippe, Gilchrist told the trial.
'Extremely angry' men
The witness said that after the defendant left, he got another call: a van pulled up outside. Some "extremely angry" men, who could speak English but whose nationalities he did not know, threw bags onto the ground and disappeared.
Gilchrist told the trial that no one saw him as he carried them back and loaded the bags into the Cessna, placing them on the back seat and the floor. Gilchrist testified that he felt dreadful doing this and that he did not see the pilot, Mr Luczak, for another 20 minutes. "He [the defendant] knew nothing about this," Gilchrist stated.
The witness said he knew it was illegal, drugs, but he never looked in the bags.
He told the trial that Mr Luczak returned and was concerned about the weight, and that Gilchrist told him the bags contained books and papers related to his brother’s doctorate and research.
Gilchrist also told the trial that the defendant was unaware of any of his communications with people on the ground regarding the bags on the plane.
He said that when they landed, he alone loaded the bags into his Alfa Romeo car and drove off. He was supposed to be intercepted by others there, but he received a message that they would meet him at the motorway.
Cross-examined by prosecutor Cathal Ó Braonáin BL, Gilchrist denied telling gardaí in his interview that he was the ringleader and said he could not remember a lot as it was over three years ago and he was very sick at the time.
He rejected Mr Ó Braonáin’s assertion that his evidence that he was under duress was "clearly nonsense".
The prosecution and defence finished their cases and Judge Roderick Maguire will hear closing speeches tomorrow.
