Two men accused of using an illegal fishpot must await their fate after the Magistrate adjourned the case until tomorrow to deliver his verdict.

James Parris, 63, of Harrington Sound Road, Smith's and Noel Parris, 65, of North Shore Road, Pembroke deny possession of and using the illegal fishpots.

Police produced video footage alleged to show an illegal arrow headed fishpot being used by the pair on February 14, 2000. Police then collected it two days later.

The Crown claims the pair had adapted it from an authorised rectangular Government lobster trap.

But defence lawyer Saul Froomkin said the video evidence had failed to show the fishermen had an illegal arrowheaded pot, which does not allow the fish to escape.

"It is not an arrow-head pot -- it doesn't show this in the video,'' he said.

He went on: "It's a fuzzy video taken from about two miles away.

"The Police officers could have got to the boat, but they wanted to see if they were hauling in more pots.

"They did not know how many other boats were in that area between the 14th and the 16th of February. We do know when the Police went to that location there was no pot there.'' He said Sgt. Venning had estimated the location of the drop by estimating the speed and distance of the brothers' boat when Police went to recover the pot.

But his estimate of the speed the boat was travelling differed from that given by the brothers, Mr. Froomkin claimed.

"The difference between the radio (report) and where the pot was found was almost half a mile away,'' he said.

"There were at least nine other illegal pots found within the reef area.'' He said the pot had become misshapen through use and pointed to the evidence of expert witness William McCallum who had said grapples to haul the pots could become bent because of the force needed to bring them up.

Mr. Froomkin went on: "They had ten pots authorised by the Government and they turned ten pots in.

"If, as the Crown alleges, they took a Government pot and adapted it into an arrowhead they would only have turned in nine pots.'' He also spoke of the Parris' clean record.

He said: "The good character of the accused goes to their credibility.

"Neither has been convicted of anything in their lives, but both are past the half century mark and they are entitled to be given the benefit.'' Expert witness William Frederick McCallum said he had been fishing for more than 55 years.

Mr. McCallum told the court traps became deformed through use, from sea pressure and from being pulled out of the sea.

And he said the pot alleged by the Crown to have belonged to the Parris brothers was a poorly-built effort typical of those made by knowledgeable amateurs.

But Crown counsel Graveney Bannister said Mr. McCallum was a member of the fishing fraternity known to the Parris brothers.

And he said the court had no business granting largesse to people just because they had clean records.

He poured scorn on Mr. McCallum's view that the video footage did not show an illegal arrowhead fish pot after the witness had admitted his eyesight was "not what it used to be''.

He said other equipment had been seized from the homes of the accused which might have been used to illegally modify fishpots.

The video evidence showed the accused being caught red-handed said Mr.

Bannister.

Acting Magistrate Justin Williams said he wanted time to consider his verdict and the hearing will resume tomorrow.