Bondi party girl’s ‘threats’ over coke ring

Bondi’s Danielle Hogan has spoken in court about her involvement in a dial-a-dealer cocaine ring, claiming she felt threatened.

Ms Hogan, 26, was charged over her involvement in the ring, having ferried bags of the drug to clients across Sydney.

Dressed in chequered black and white pants and a black blazer Ms Hogan took to the stand at Sydney’s Downing Centre on Friday.

She expressed her remorse for her actions.

“I feel disgusted,” she said.

“There’s no excuse: as soon as I commenced my offence I knew it was wrong immediately.”

Ms Hogan acted as a runner in a sophisticated dial-a-dealer cocaine syndicate that operated across Sydney.

She was charged with commercial drug supply after being arrested at her Bondi home during a string of raids in November 2019.

Ms Hogan said she noticed something was awry just a few days into her shifts and was fearful of the syndicate’s drug kingpins, the court was told.

“I had intentions to get out,” she told the court.

Ms Hogan said she told syndicate members she was “getting nervous, anxious and really hoping to leave”.

She claimed she made various attempts to leave the syndicate after realising it was much larger and sophisticated than she first thought, including sending text messages with excuses as to why she couldn’t make her shift.

But the crown pointed out in response that Ms Hogan had tried to get her friends a job with the syndicate, including one who was a mother.

Ms Hogan told the court her friend was “persistent” in asking her but acknowledged that her request to get her a job was “selfish”.

The court was told there were “thousands” of texts between herself and the kingpins, including one, several weeks into the job, where she asked: “Do you guys need anyone on Sunday or Monday?”

They replied yes to the former.

“Sweet, I’ll do Sunday,” she texted.

The defence is arguing the kingpins behind the operation threatened Ms Hogan when she raised concerns.

Her barrister, Jehane Ghabrial, referenced a series of text messages in court on Friday where Ms Hogan appeared to be threatened by the syndicate bosses.

“Tell her to leave the pay, the sl-t, she owes the fines,” one text read, referring to the money she owed them.

Ms Hogan confessed to owing them between $2000 and $3000.

NSW District Court judge Mark Williams SC said in the weeks leading up to her arrest Ms Hogan had disclosed her “terrible involvement” in the syndicate to her family.

“I was in a state of desperation. I knew I needed to make money to get by,” Ms Hogan told the court.

She was living in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and working as an event planner when she was arrested.

Ms Hogan spent almost two weeks inside Silverwater Jail before she was released on bail.

She was initially charged with multiple offences, including participating in a criminal group, but all but one charge was later dropped in court.

Ms Hogan has pleaded guilty to commercial drug supply and faces up to 20 years behind bars if found guilty.

The matter will return to court on December 13.