A Supreme Court jury was asked to "give Kirk Roberts a twentieth anniversary gift" he would not forget yesterday as lawyers made their closing arguments in a drugs conspiracy trial.

Roberts, 40, of Sandys, and Alphonso Cyril Holder, 44, of St. Vincent, deny they conspired with others not before the court to import marijuana to Bermuda between an unknown date and December 20, 2000.

Making reference to a comment Roberts allegedly made while in custody that he had done "this for 20 years', Director of Public Prosecutions Khamisi Tokunbo called on the jury to see Roberts didn't do it for a 21st.

He said the trial might have ended in the first week, following evidence from star witness Heinz (Henry) Golembeck - a former drug runner turned informant. "The conspiracy was proven back then," Mr. Tokunbo said. "We didn't stop. We brought more evidence and more witnesses to give you an illustration of the overall criminality of the conspiracy."

During the trial, the jury heard that Roberts contracted Golembeck to bring drugs from the Caribbean on his sailboat Never Come Back in early 2000.

Golembeck said he sailed around the Caribbean for months trying to get the 200 to 300 pounds of marijuana Roberts wanted and, over that time, Roberts supported him and another man on the boat - Bermudian Winston Robinson - by wiring money through Western Union.

With regards to Holder, Mr. Tokunbo said Roberts and he need not have conspired together directly to be party to the same conspiracy.

He said Holder joined the conspiracy when it was almost complete as an agent of the man who provided the drugs in St. Vincent, Benji the Roots Man.

He reminded the jury of Golembeck's evidence and that of Stephen Cabral Sr. and Jr. - father and son fishermen who testified Roberts hired their boat to take him out to meet the sailboat in December 2000 to pick up the drugs.

He said they outlined the conspiracy even though they were parties to it who were later granted immunity.

"Did they appear to be witnesses of credit?" he asked. "I suggest they are. I suggest Golembeck was too. He was frank, perhaps even ruthless. Maybe he is - so what? Was he telling the truth?"

Mr. Tokunbo said evidence supported the testimony and pointed to: a letter from Golembeck to Roberts which was found in Roberts' pocket after his arrest; a tape recording made by Harbour Radio of Golembeck attempting to contact Roberts on VHF radio; the GPS coordinates which were taken from the Cabrals' boat Sea Scorpion III and later charted by Harbour Radio against radar movements of two boats the night of the alleged drug exchange off shore; and the stack of Western Union documents showing Roberts sent money to Golembeck and Robinson at various locations.

He later returned to the comment Roberts allegedly made after his arrest: "You arrested my wife. Now you arrest me again. What drugs? You ain't even got the drug. You are arresting me without the drug. I've been doing this 20 years. You young jokers don't know what you are doing."

"I invite you to give Kirk Roberts a 20th anniversary present to remember," Mr. Tokunbo said. "That he got caught and convicted for what he had been doing, according to him, for 20 years."

Roberts' defence lawyer Mark Pettingill said the jury was being invited to join the real conspiracy - the one to "get Kirk Roberts".

He said he felt the case arose from a Police operation engineered to get his client. "It's phenomenally amazing how how many lucky things fell in the lap (of Police)," he said. "Things they needed to get Kirk Roberts."

He noted Golembeck's surprise confessions which formed the core of the Prosecution's case. "He was a Perry Mason witness. He was good," he said.

Mr. Pettingill re-iterated his concerns that Golembeck was a Police operative and that crucial evidence to the defence was withheld.

He said if the jury thought Golembeck was working with the Police it must acquit.

If there was no intention to complete a conspiracy - because it was a Police operation not intended to supply drugs to Bermuda at all - there could be no conspiracy, he said.

Much of Golembeck's testimony simply defied logic, he said, such as the suggestion he continued running drugs despite being ripped off a number of times.

"Do you really think, in a scummy business like this, you get 200 pounds of grass on credit?" Mr. Pettingill asked. The Western Union evidence was also suspicious, he said, and asked why Police had not had a handwriting analyst ensure the transfers were really sent by Roberts. "I said earlier Golembeck was the stupidest drug dealer. But Kirk Roberts is the stupidest drug dealer," he said, "because if you do wire transfers like that you are dumb."

If the Police operation was not designed to get Kirk Roberts, he asked, why were immunity deals handed out like "get out of jail free cards and they are playing drug monopoly" to anyone who testified against him?

Mr. Pettingill asked the jury not to be party to the conspiracy against his client. "I have faith in you to do the right thing even if you don't like it," he said.

Holder's attorney Patrick Doherty asked the jury: "Do you really know what happened here?

"Do you really know why Golembeck came forward? Have the Police told us everything?"

Mr. Doherty said he was not interested in what happened to Roberts but he shared many of Mr. Pettingill's concerns about the investigation and disclosure issues. He reminded the jury that Golembeck was an admitted liar and pointed out several incidences of inconsistent statements he made.

Yet Golembeck's testimony is the only thing that tied his client to the conspiracy, he added.

"Holder seems like an afterthought in this case," he said.

A verdict is expected on Monday following Supreme Court Justice Norma Wade-Miller's summation.