A seven-year prison term handed down to an AIDS victim who has two years to live will be appealed, her lawyer said yesterday.

Chief Justice Austin Ward jailed Janice Elizabeth Dayles-Smith on Friday after she admitted in Supreme Court smuggling to importing 498.2 grams of cocaine on January 29, 1995.

Yesterday, lawyer Tim Marshall said he would be appealing the prison term on the basis that it was "a life sentence'' and unfair given that his client, a mother of six, had cooperated fully with the Police.

Mr. Marshall said the sentence sent the wrong message to people caught committing crimes.

"The purpose of giving sentencing discounts is to provide hope, but this amounts to a life sentence,'' he said. "It says `why bother' and cannot be the message we should be sending out as a humane community.

"She has done what society expects by breaking through the barrier of fear that drug traffickers inflict on people like my client. She gave her complete cooperation and her reward is a life sentence and that cannot be right.'' He added: "If you have someone suffering from a terminal illness with two years to live, then the sentence ought to be one which allows her to return to society to share part of her life with her loved ones.'' On Friday, Crown counsel Khamisi Tokunbo told the court that the cocaine was packed into 35 pellets hidden inside bottles of hair products.

He said Dayles-Smith was approached by a Bermuda Customs Officer after clearing Immigration. During the search of her carry-on bag, the officer noticed something black and asked her what it was.

Mr. Tokunbo said Dayles-Smith asked to have a look and then shouted "No! No! They couldn't have done this to me!'' He added that she tried to grab the bottle away from the officer, screaming: "They are going to kill my kids!'' Dayles-Smith then ran from the inspection counter and out of the Airport building.

She was chased and detained by other officers.

When questioned about the contents of the bottle, she denied any knowledge of what the black objects were.

On probing the black objects, a white powder was exposed.

Dayles-Smith told officers that the products were given to her by a Colombian for delivery to a local person and she offered to assist Police in a controlled delivery. She told Police the local person was Vincent Oneal Douglas whose trial is pending.

Mr. Tokunbo said Dayles-Smith told Police she was recruited by Douglas to export $10,000 from Bermuda for delivery to the same Colombian man who gave her the hair products.

AIDS victim gets `life sentence' She claimed that Douglas paid for her airline ticket, but only gave her $2,000 to deliver to the Colombian.

Dayles-Smith made a witness statement on June 5 and agreed to testify for the Crown in Douglas' trial.

But when called on to give evidence at her sentencing yesterday, Dayles-Smith broke down in tears as she described her desperate circumstances.

She told Chief Justice Austin Ward she had received death threats over the telephone as recently as last week.

She explained that as a widow with six children she had no-one, other than her elderly in-laws, to help her.

Describing her circumstances as a "headache'', Dayles-Smith said: "I made the wrong choice of acquaintance.'' She maintained that she turned a blind eye to the possibility of the package containing drugs.

"I know that you're not supposed to carry packages for other people, and I should've checked the contents thoroughly,'' she admitted.

Mr. Marshall implored Mr. Justice Ward to deliver "a pure act of mercy'' in the form of a suspended prison sentence.

Mr. Marshall described the degree of extenuating circumstances, including his client's extensive cooperation with the Police and the severity of her medical condition, saying medical experts had given her just two years to live.

He reminded Mr. Justice Ward that giving lighter sentences under such circumstances would encourage others to testify against those involved in drug trafficking.

"It takes a remarkable person to break from intimidation and fear,'' he added.

While admitting that the severity of the crime warranted a custodial sentence, Mr. Marshall suggested a suspended sentence.

But Mr. Justice Ward insisted that such a suspension was unprecedented and would "make a mockery of the legislature''.

"I will remind you that the President of the Court of Appeals said that `a suspended sentence is no sentence','' he added before handing down the seven-year sentence.

AIDS AID