Lawyer argues drug trafficker's driver should be spared more jail time

An Irish national who drove a fugitive drug trafficker 4,680 kilometres across Australia in a rented van to help him evade justice is facing the prospect of prison time in Darwin.

Stephen Roche was arrested on the Northern Territory's Gove Peninsula in January last year over his role in helping New South Wales fugitive Hussein Chamas try to escape Australia onboard a yacht.

Under instruction from a shadowy international syndicate, Mr Roche picked up Chamas from an address in Sydney after the latter had used forged documents to flee a court-enforced stint in a rehab centre, and the pair embarked on a four-day road trip to the NT.

Their campervan broke down on the way to the remote East Arnhem Land region and the pair had to be towed into Nhulunbuy.

After their arrival, Chamas was met on the Gove Peninsula by a yacht waiting offshore from a local beach.

Along with two others, Chamas was then apprehended by an Australian Border Force patrol in the Arafura Sea as the wanted man attempted to evade justice over drug charges he faced in NSW.

The drug importer turned fugitive was jailed in August this year until at least 2030 after he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of methamphetamine and one count of trafficking a commercial quantity of cocaine.

In July, Mr Roche pleaded guilty to to attempting to pervert the course of justice over his role in the conspiracy, which was organised by an international syndicate the NT Supreme Court heard operated across multiple countries.

Prosecutor Hadi Mazloum said "offences of this kind are set to strike at the heart of the justice system" and that "a term of imprisonment is the only appropriate penalty".

"He was aware that he was helping a person to escape Australia illegally,"

he said.

Although currently released on bail, Mr Roche served four months on remand in Darwin's Holtze prison earlier this year.

Mr Roche struggling with injury, mental health

The NT Supreme Court today heard arguments about whether Mr Roche should be spared further jail time, citing a serious, pre-existing back injury he still suffers from and a deterioration in his mental health.

Defence lawyer Ian Rowbottam said Mr Roche was a highly-educated former electronics expert whose life collapsed after the loss of his job and a marriage breakdown.

"This is a man who has done time at Holtze — four months and three days — and in my submission there is no necessity for him to go back there," he said.

Mr Rowbottam said his client had shown remorse and entered an early guilty plea.

He also said Mr Roche was suffering from severe anxiety and depressive moods and was increasingly worried about the future of his estranged 14-year-old daughter.

"His whole being is aimed towards assisting his daughter,"

he said.

Mr Mazloum agreed that Mr Roche's involvement in the plan, which was supposed to net him $30,000, was driven out of his dire financial circumstances at the time of the offending.

"It came from need rather than greed," he said.

The prosecution acknowledged that Mr Roche's mental and physical health conditions would likely make future prison time "more burdensome".

"In my submission that doesn't displace the need for custody but it can moderate the length of time in custody," he said.

Justice Meredith Day Huntingford said she would consider the submissions in Mr Roche's "complex" case before sentencing him on December 1.