Two men convicted of drug offences had their appeals dismissed in Supreme Court yesterday — however, one man had his sentence reduced.

Leighton Griffiths, a Jamaican national was found unanimously guilty by a Supreme Court jury on July 11, 2007 of possession of the controlled drug cocaine with the intent to supply and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. He was arrested on July 1, 2005 when he went to the LF Wade International Airport to collect an air compressor stuffed with drugs.

Griffiths, father of two young children, was initially represented by Mark Pettingill but his appeal was handled by Nigel Rumfitt, QC and Craig Attridge. Robert Welling represented the Crown.

The 33-year-old of King Street, Pembroke, contended he was merely picking up the package for another person and did not know there were drugs inside.

Yesterday, Mr. Rumfitt argued the jury was misdirected by Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons and said she should have told the jury Griffiths had to know what was in the box in order to be guilty.

The QC said the jury could have convicted his client not because he knew there were drugs in the box but because he ought to have known there were drugs in the box.

During the trial, the defence claimed the defendant was picking up the box for a man called Wilton Woolridge or "Bigga", a known drug dealer on the Island.

Mr. Welling argued Mrs. Justice Simmons was correct in her direction to the jury and said this was a case of "extremely circumstantial" evidence. He also said the law only requires the prosecution to prove the defendant was knowingly in possession of the box.

Mr. Rumfitt also questioned his client's sentence saying it was "too much and ought to be reduced".

Griffiths lost his appeal but had his sentence reduced to 12 years.

Oshane Darrell, represented by Edward Bailey, appealed to have his sentence reduced as a result of his guilty plea, even though it was a year after his original conviction had been quashed.

The 29-year-old was arrested November 22, 2002 after Police raided the Sea Wall Drive, Sandys, home he shared with his girlfriend, Jennifer Medeiros, and found cocaine in the kitchen and bathroom along with a pair of scales with residue on them. A large quantity of cash was also discovered in an upstairs room.

Both Darrell and Medeiros were convicted in 2005 of possession of cocaine by a jury and sentenced to ten years and seven years respectively.

These convictions were later quashed by the Court of Appeal and a retrial ordered. However, after Darrell pleaded guilty to possession of the 679 grams of freebase cocaine worth $212,000 street value and was re-sentenced to ten years, senior Crown prosecutor Carrington Mahoney offered no further evidence in the case of Ms Medeiros, meaning her name was cleared.

Mr. Bailey argued Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves did not take his client's guilty plea into consideration while the Director of Public Prosecutions Rory Field argued the plea was given a year after the retrial was ordered and said the sentence was not excessive at all.

The panel of three court of appeal judges dismissed the appeal and kept the ten-year sentence.