An attempt to have the three year mandatory jail term for possessing a blade in public declared unlawful and unconstitutional has been rejected by the Court of Appeal.

The bladed article provisions, introduced in 2005, mean a sentence of three to five years at Magistrates' Court, plus a potential $5,000 fine.

The punishment jumps to a five to seven year sentence at Supreme Court and a fine up to $10,000.

David Jahwell Cox launched a challenge to the law at the Court of Appeal after being jailed for three years by a Magistrate for taking a two-foot machete into a crowded bar at Devonshire Recreation Club in July 2006.

His appeal against conviction and sentence had previously been rejected by the Chief Justice who said in October 2007 that knife possession is a "real and pressing social problem" in Bermuda, and lawmakers are entitled to take steps to combat it.

During a Court of Appeal hearing last month, John Perry QC argued on behalf of Cox that the minimum sentence is unconstitutional as it is contrary to the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual.

Alternatively, he said, it is inconsistent with sentencing provisions which say a sentence must be proportionate to the gravity of the offence.

Mr. Perry raised issues of circumstantial evidence in support of Cox's bid to have his conviction quashed too.

Mr. Perry's arguments were contested by Crown counsel Cindy Clarke, and the Court of Appeal judges opted to uphold the Chief Justice's earlier ruling and reject Cox's appeal.