Lawyers gave closing arguments yesterday during the Supreme Court trial of a Jamaican man accused of conspiring to import more than $300,000 of drugs into Bermuda.

Norwegian Spirit crew member Andrew Laing, 33, denies four counts of an involvement to import 1,557 grams of cannabis and 60.06 grams of heroin into Bermuda — valued at $310,220 — between August and September 2006.

Laing’s co-worker and alleged lover — Teeteta Iereria — has already pleaded guilty for her role and is serving a five-year prison sentence and claims Laing used her to bring in the drugs.

The Crown claims that on two occasions in August and September 2006, the pair imported cannabis and on October 6 they imported both cannabis and heroin when the ship arrived in Dockyard.

The court heard that Iereria quickly developed an intimate relationship with Laing, when they started working together early last year.

Laing told authorities and the court repeatedly, he was never in love with her as she thought and according to the Crown, he used her naive affection to persuade her involvement in his hidden agenda.

Iereria had previously testified to bringing drugs off the ship in Dockyard, when it arrived from New York — on three occasions.

She recounted how the pair met an unknown man in a car on New York’s 11th Avenue at one time, while the boat docked nearby.

She and Laing allegedly swapped shoes with him and wore them back onto the ship. Remembering back, she believes there were drugs concealed in the shoes, telling Police she “could feel something” — but never asked any questions.

On another occasion in New York at a later date, it’s alleged they met the same man in a park, who supplied them with eight packages of cannabis and heroin.

And, Laing helped strap seven packages onto Iereria’s body inside the park’s bathroom, with the seventh on him, when they again, returned to the ship that was headed for Bermuda, allegedly.

Upon their arrival in Dockyard on October 6, 2006, Police had them under surveillance and watched as Iereria left the ship minutes after Laing, acting suspiciously and wandered around the area, detectives claim.

They were subsequently seen together near the Clock Tower Mall, where Iereria was searched and detained but Laing escaped after assaulting Special Constable Stacey Todd, who tried to search him, the court heard.

One month later, Police found and arrested Laing at the Southampton home of Shannon Smith while executing a search warrant — that saw the apartment’s door rammed and Laing pepper-sprayed by Police when he purportedly tried to flee.

In his summation yesterday, defence lawyer Mark Pettingill portrayed Iereria as a “calm, calculated, professional courier,” who has pretended to be victimised to seek retribution against Laing for dumping her.

He suggested: “Ms Iereria is not as innocent as she has pretended to be. She had a lot more to do with this ‘plan’ that involved other unnamed individuals.

“Her motivation started very early — she’s the one that told you (the jury) that she was told by Police that she could get a lesser prison sentence if she co-operated with them.

“She is the type of individual that is calculated, she said she slept with another colleague, Norman, just to get at the defendant.

“Is this not malice or calculating enough? Someone like her that seemed to be able to walk through security checks with $300,000 in drugs, so calmly and come here and testify in front of you?”

Mr. Pettingill threw out Senior Crown counsel Paula Tyndale’s contention that the alleged acts were committed on certain days during last summer, saying the prosecution was “picking and choosing,” while ignoring other exonerative evidence.

“There was no check by Police to see if the alleged packages had the defendant’s fingerprints on them — that issue was never challenged or checked out by Police.

“The officers who supposedly observed Mr. Laing on October 6, in Dockyard, Constable Todd and Constable Telemaque, had a number of inconsistencies in their account of what happened.”

Mr. Pettingill emphasised to the jury in closing: “There are enough thoughts that linger that warrant your acquittal!”

Puisne Judge Norma Wade-Miller adjourned the trial until this morning, when she is expected to give the jury legal instructions before they deliberate.