A Canadian mother will spend the next six and a half years behind bars for importing drugs to Bermuda.

The Supreme Court case was delayed yesterday after the accused arrived with her six-month-old baby, forcing court staff to find a babysitter before sentencing could get underway.

Victoria Cashmay White, 41, from Toronto, was pregnant with her sixth child when she was arrested at Bermuda International Airport on February 29 last year with 255.7 grams of cocaine ? with a street value of $79,900 ? strapped to her belly.

Crown counsel Juan Wolffe told the court how White, who was born in Jamaica, but is now a Canadian national, had been stopped and searched by Customs after her Jamaican passport was found in her bag. He said White told Customs officials that she preferred to travel on her Canadian passport, but when searched the Jamaican passport revealed that White had travelled to Bermuda twice before ? in less than a month.

White told Police she had $1,000 cash and was going to spend a week at the Royal Palms Hotel where she would recover from an accident. Police only found $150 cash and confirmed that she did not have a reservation at the Hamilton hotel.

In a tearful plea to the court, White said she wanted to apologise not only to the court, but also to the people of Bermuda.

"I've disgraced myself and my children and I'm sorry. My children had nothing to do with this and at the end of the day they'll suffer with me not being there for them. They don't deserve it. Please consider them and show me some mercy," she cried.

When asking for leniency, White's lawyer, Elizabeth Christopher, told the court that her client would have to take her baby son with her to the women's correctional facility, as all efforts to return the child to Canada had been in vain.

Ms Christopher said White had been trying to get the baby into foster care in Canada, but had failed. Children older than a year are not allowed to remain with their mothers at the women's correctional facility here in Bermuda.

No mention was made of what was to become of White's five other children, including a five-year-old. The oldest child is 19.

Before sentencing her, Puisne judge Charles-Etta Simmons said White needed to realise the harm that drugs do to society, not only in Bermuda, but internationally and that in sentencing her she needed to send a strong message.

Mrs. Justice Simmons said she had taken White's children and her plea into consideration in making her decision.

During her incarceration, White has to enrol in a skills learning programme at the women's correctional facility.