A man who is charged with importing 81.5 grams of heroin into the Island testified yesterday that he was used as a decoy by someone who wanted to take attention away from themselves.

Floyd McCoy Hayward, 47, who is represented by lawyer Elizabeth Christopher, has pleaded not guilty to importing over $300,000 worth of the drug on a British Airways flight on April 9, 1999.

Hayward, of Friswells Hill, Pembroke, also testified that he felt drowsy on the flight and the next time he woke up he was in King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

"I heard someone calling my name, telling me `Floyd wake up, wake up'," he said. "When I woke up I was in the hospital. I don't really know what happened. After hearing what was against me it seems like someone was trying to take my life or use me as a decoy by trying to draw attention to me. I said to myself `if I didn't do it, it had to be someone trying to do something to me'."

But Assistant Justice Charles-Etta Simmons and the nine woman, three man jury had already heard testimony from two witnesses that when Hayward mysteriously passed out on the flight, a plastic package was pulled from his trousers.

Prosecution witness Dr. Claire Holt, who attended to Hayward while he was unconscious testified, that he was having difficulty breathing and that she witnessed a "single needle mark" on his left arm and blood on his sleeve.

When Hayward took the witness stand yesterday, he explained that he had spent a week-long family vacation visiting his three-year-old daughter in Amsterdam.

He said that while he was sitting on the return flight to Bermuda he had two soft drinks and a meal. He said moments after he got up to use the bathroom he began to feel tired.

"After I came back to my seat, I started to finish off the Customs form and then I finished the rest of my soda," he said. "Then I started to feel kind of tired, so I packed up the form and put the soda can to the side and then I rested. That's all I can remember."

Under cross examination by Crown counsel Anthony Blackman, Hayward admitted that he was travelling alone and did not know anyone on the flight.

Mr. Blackman claimed that Hayward sampled the drugs he was allegedly smuggling and discarded the needle, when he went to use the bathroom, dismissing Hayward's theory that he was set up.

"You'll agree that if person `A' was used as a decoy, there would have to be an agreement between both parties?" Mr. Blackman asked.

"Not necessarily," said Hayward.

"I'm suggesting that you were never used as a decoy," Mr. Blackman said. "You are trying to confuse the jury. You heard officers testify that the drugs were worth over $300,000 on the street. That's a lot of money. Would you entrust someone you don't know with something worth in excess of $300,000?"

"No," Hayward said.

"Do you suffer from any illnesses?" Mr. Blackman asked.

"No," Hayward said.

"So you had a mysterious illness on the plane?" Mr. Blackman asked.

Hayward replied: "I just felt tired and I went to sleep."

"I'm suggesting that no one but you placed those drugs on your body," Mr. Blackman said. "You were responsible for the mark on your left arm - that you went to the bathroom and sampled the stuff you had."

"That's not true," Hayward said.

Mrs. Justice Simmons and the jury will hear closing arguments on Monday.