jury on Monday after Puisne Judge Richard Ground sums up the evidence and gives direction on the relevant law.

Burgess, 20, of Westwood Lane, Pembroke, has denied three drug offences in connection with the theft of a drug exhibit from a Supreme Court vault in 1995.

She has denied possessing heroin, supplying the drug and handling it with intent to supply between May 12 and August 31, 1995.

Crown counsel Wilhelm Bourne said that Burgess handled the drugs when she stored a package that her sister Komeiko Steede had given her.

And it is further alleged that Burgess assisted Steede to prepare the drugs for sale and had given a portion to her father that eventually went missing.

But Burgess' lawyer Archie Warner said there was a "paucity, scarcity, and insufficiency'' of evidence against Burgess.

And, he said, any evidence of her alleged involvement came from the mouths of "two self-confessed liars'' Shawn Crockwell, who was serving ten years for stealing the heroin from a Supreme Court safe in 1995 and Steede who was serving a three year prison sentence for her role in the crime. Both testified for the Crown earlier in the trial but Mr. Warner suggested that neither was a credible witness.

He pointed out that Steede and Crockwell had lied to Police in their statements under the guise of "a confession''.

Mr. Warner added that Steede, who was convicted of possessing heroin with intent to supply, was sentenced in Magistrates' Court for an offence that was usually handled in the Supreme Court.

Had she been sentenced in a higher court, he said her sentence would have been substantially increased. As a result he said Steede had to tie her sister into the drugs transaction because she needed to give Police justification for treating her so lightly.

Furthermore, Mr. Warner said that there was no independent verification that the drugs Crockwell took from the safe were the same drugs that he gave to Steede to sell.

The case continues on Monday morning before Puisne Judge Richard Ground.