in which she is accused of importing $42,000 worth of cocaine.

Robin Young, of Boundary Terrace, Devonshire, sat down and wept as she was telling the Supreme Court that her mother had died in June.

Young was answering questions from her lawyer Mr. Archie Warner about her relationship with her mother before she was arrested at the Bermuda Airport in February, when the cocaine was found in a bag she was carrying.

Puisne Judge, the Hon. Mrs. Justice Wade allowed her to compose herself before continuing with the case.

In her evidence Young said that when the drug was discovered by customs officers she did not want her mother called because, she said: "She did not know I had gone away. She was strict and I knew she would ask questions about why I was going to New York alone.'' Young is denying any knowledge of the drug in the bag which was found when she returned from the New York trip.

She is charged with importation, possession and handling. She is also charged with conspiracy to import a controlled drug with New Yorker, Jacqueline Martells.

Young, who is unemployed, claims that she was on the trip to buy material for Shirleen Phillips, her friend's mother, who she called Aunt Shirleen.

She said that Phillips had paid for her air tickets, given her $20 and arranged for her to stay with a man called Tony in New York.

While in New York, Young said that she had stayed at Tony's apartment from Tuesday until Sunday morning when she was taken out to spend $100 that Tony had given her.

She said that while she was with a friend of Tony's, he had returned to the apartment to "sort out some odds and ends''. She had left her bag at the apartment.

Describing her return to Bermuda, Young said when her bag was searched by customs and bags of white powder were discovered in the bottom, she reacted with fear.

"I did not know what it was. I said it was not my bag but it belonged to my Aunt Shirleen.'' Prosecuting, Crown Counsel Mr. Brian Calhoun asked if the fact that her boyfriend and his friend had both told the court that Young had told them she was going to import drugs in January was a coincidence. She said it was.

Mr. Calhoun said: "The reason you went to New York was that you had not been there before, and you had gone to collect material for your Aunt Shirleen but you were content to sit in Tony's apartment eating Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonalds?'' Young replied that she was content because it was an improvement on her first day when she found herself sitting in Tony's car for two hours, while he visited a friend.

She claimed that Tony must have put the cocaine in her bag while she was shopping.

The trial continues this morning.