evidence at the probe into the handling of serious crimes on the Island.

The 41-year-old, who pleaded not guilty in Magistrates Court to using menacing behaviour towards a neighbour in April of this year, told The Commission of Inquiry that black men on the Island continued to be victimised by Police.

Mr. Smith was at the centre of an inquiry last year into how a previous court case of his was handled after allegations that prosecutors had interfered in the proceedings in a bid to benefit him.

The top London lawyer brought in to study the matter ruled there was nothing to substantiate the claims, but said the case had not been handled in the customary way.

Yesterday, Mr. Smith, of Spring Hill, Warwick, accused The Royal Gazette of placing too much emphasis on his previous case and said things in Bermuda had to change when it came to the treatment of black men.

He told the commission that the percentage of prison inmates who were black greatly exceeded the percentage of black men on the Island, claiming that "racial profiling ran rampant'' around the Island.

He added: "Black males are treated like wasted trash sitting on the side.

"It's clear to me that if our lawyers are having difficulties with the Police, how much more the man in the street.'' He recited a case where a friend of his was jailed at the age of 18 for driving while disqualified, despite it being his first offence.

He said this was the type of behaviour regularly doled out to black males.

And supervisor of Woodshop Plus in St. George's Michael Ebbin, who is also founder and president of the African Society, told the inquiry that "blacks had been stripped of their humanisation''. And he said apartheid lived on in Bermuda.

He added: "The courts are filled with black people, the prisons are filled with black people.

"It's not because they are the majority because people here are not as criminally-minded as we are made out to be.

"We are champions of civilisation. We have not received fair play, so what happens, we fall into the base categories.

"We do a lot of the base things to try and achieve the standards that are set for us.

"Unless something is done in this country, they will uprise.'' Mr. Smith is set to appear back before the courts on November 22 to face the charge of using threatening behaviour.

No time to waste: Smith's leaving Magistrate's Court MURDER MUR CRIMES CRM