Former NRL player Jamil Hopoate faces a fourth stint in jail as he awaits sentencing for trying to deliver eight kilograms of cocaine through Sydney.
The former Brisbane lock, who has twice been jailed for violent incidents, was arrested at gunpoint during a police sting in May 2021.
Federal police had found 514kg of cocaine hidden in a consignment of toolboxes, replaced it with an innocuous powder and then tracked it as it was distributed across Sydney.
The son of former Manly winger John Hopoate and brother of former Canterbury star Will was seen collecting eight blocks of powder and then riding in a van that was stopped by police.
Hopoate was paid between $7000 and $10,000 to move the slabs but had no profit stake in the cocaine supply, the District Court was told last week.
While the Crown has accepted Hopoate has reasonable prospects of rehabilitation, it submitted the court needed to send a message to the community that jail time was the only option for those who acted as couriers in drug rings.
Hopoate spent about two months on remand before being bailed on the drug charge in July 2019.
Having pleaded guilty to the single charge, Hopoate has submitted an intensive corrections order – a form of suspended sentence – was an option open to the court.
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He was addicted to gambling, alcohol and other drugs at the time, which led to his offending, the court has heard.
Since July 2021, he’s been unable to touch alcohol or other drugs or gamble due to his strict bail conditions.
Hopoate was dumped by Manly Sea Eagles in 2014 when jailed for a year for a drunken, brutal and unprovoked attack on a man outside a local pub.
Having gained permission to return to NRL in 2020, he played 12 matches in Brisbane’s sub-par season, mostly off the bench and was let go.
He was jailed again this year for three months after failing to complete 250 hours of community service, as ordered by a court in 2021.
That community service related to assault and intimidation offences in Port Macquarie in 2020.
Judge Sharron Norton will hand down her sentence on Thursday.
