The wife of jailed businessman Nathan McDonnell – sentenced to 12 years last week for helping to import €32million (£26 million) worth of crystal meth into Ireland – has vowed to stand by her man.

Jackie O’Duffy McDonnell said she believes her 44-year-old husband was overcome by a ‘moment of madness’ and she is still in love with him.

Speaking to The Irish Mail on Sunday, she revealed she is ‘devastated’ by what has happened.

Ms McDonnell said: ‘The sentencing of a man you are in love with is awful. I am standing by him 100%.’

Garden centre owner McDonnell, from Tralee, Co. Kerry, was jailed by the Special Criminal Court after helping the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel move €32million of the highly addictive and dangerous synthetic drug via Ireland en route to Australia.

The court found that McDonnell had stored the equipment at his Ballyseedy garden centre and restaurant premises for several months prior to gardaí, who were acting on intelligence, swooping on the Port of Cork in February last year before the drugs could be shipped out. The former head of the local chamber of commerce and respected member of the Tralee community had been struggling with debts in his business, the court was told.

McDonnell suffered a broken jaw in a vicious attack while in Portlaoise Prison awaiting sentence after pleading guilty to his role in the operation.

Ms O’Duffy McDonnell, who has three sons with her husband, added: ‘This was not in my life plan, God no.

‘It’s a blow, it’s what we’ve been dealt with. It is what it is.

‘I have to think about what is best for the boys [her sons]. The whole thing has been horrific from start to finish but so long as he [Nathan] is okay and the boys are okay, that’s all I can hope for. But you know, I suppose now we know what we are facing we can try and plan for a future.’

She said her family now needs ‘to come up with a plan as to how we move forward with this in a way that is beneficial for all of us’.

Speaking about how her husband became entangled with a notorious drugs gang, Ms O’Duffy McDonnell added: ‘I can’t understand it. It’s against everything I know him to be. He’s a very honourable man, he’s done an awful lot for the community, he’s done an awful lot of charity work. He’s done an awful lot for this town.

‘I can only conclude it was a moment of madness on his part. I think once he agreed, he couldn’t go back on it.’

However, she stressed: ‘I’m surmising. He didn’t say that to me. I’m only surmising.’ The Special Criminal Court found the once-respected business owner was ‘committed to and invested in’ the success of a €32million crystal meth operation by an organised crime group with links to the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel.

McDonnell, who had encountered ‘fierce financial difficulties’ and racked up debts of €4million, was to be paid €150,000 by the Irish gang to store a machine containing the drugs on his premises and arrange for its export to Australia.

Sentencing McDonnell at the non-jury court, Judge Melanie Greally said to describe the defendant as ‘a mere cog in the wheel’ was to undervalue his role.

She added that McDonnell had carried out several tasks which demanded a high level of trust and responsibility for the criminal gang, including paying shipping charges, safely storing the drugs for four months and using a family contact to help with export requirements.

The judge said the defendant had deceived a legitimate business owner and took responsibility for a forged invoice to facilitate the onward shipment of the machine concealing the drugs.

She noted he was ‘committed to and invested in’ the success of the venture

Judge Greally said the court could not find evidence that he was under duress when he first chose to embark on the venture.