An elderly US tourist claimed that bullets accidentally got into her suitcase after she hid them away from her handyman.

Lucy Stackler, 67, was arrested at the airport with husband Walter, 73, as they were leaving Bermuda on September 27.

An x-ray machine operator spotted the eleven bullets in the rear pocket of her green carry-on case as they were about to board a JetBlue flight home to New York.

According to the operator, Carlos Talbot, who testified at Mrs. Stackler's Magistrates' Court trial yesterday: "When I pulled them out and showed them to her she said 'Oh my God' and repeated it several times. She seemed very shocked and became emotional."

The accused, of Oyster Bay, New York, denies possessing the bullets.

The trial also heard from Detective Constable Cheryl Beach. She said that Stackler denied any knowledge of the bullets when interviewed by the Police on the date of her arrest. However, the following day, she requested another interview, explaining that she'd been thinking overnight and remembered how the bullets got into her case.

The video-recording of that interview was played to the court yesterday. In it, Stackler explained that her husband keeps a pistol in a safe at their home and has a firing range in the basement.

She told the Police that a handyman was helping her put furniture from the basement up by her swimming pool one day when a bag was knocked over and the bullets spilled out.

"I said 'Oh my God, this is not appropriate for my handyman' " said Stackler, who claimed she put them in a plastic bag in the carry-on case so he would not see them. She could not say what the ammunition was doing in the basement or whether it belongs to her husband.

Recalling the moment the discovery was made by the airport security guard she told the officers: "It was the biggest shock of my life when he showed them to me last night." She added: "I went through security in New York and nothing happened there."

During the interview, Stackler said she did not have a contact number available for the handyman. She denied lying to the Police in a bid to get her husband released from custody. Mr. Stackler has since been released and has not been charged.

Although prosecutor Cindy Clarke had yet to wrap up the prosecution case yesterday afternoon, Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner allowed defence lawyer Saul Froomkin QC to call a number of "character witnesses" because some had flown in from overseas.

Several family friends from New York described their disbelief that Stackler could be responsible for such a crime. Her best friend of 35 years, Pamela Mariani, of Mid Ocean Drive in St. George's also explained that the couple has visited Bermuda many times.

"Lucy Stackler is lovely, respected, moral, honest and loyal. I could go on forever," she told the court.

Jack Wahl, of Middle Road, Pembroke, said: "Mrs. Stackler is a fine upstanding lady and would never subvert the laws of Bermuda or any other country. It was a big surprise to me and everybody else. I think that this incident is accidental and certainly not intentional on her part or anybody else's part. It would not be in keeping with her reputation or temperament."

Quizzed by Ms Clarke over why he believes it is an accident, Mr. Wahl replied: "The nature of it is an accident. No-one would take bullets back to the US and sell them if they can buy them there in the gun store."

The trial is set to continue on Thursday morning. Although Stackler was initially remanded into custody when she appeared at court on September 29, she successfully applied for bail later and was released again yesterday until the next court date.