A man accused of smuggling cannabis and liquid cocaine into Bermuda said “unbelievable things” during his trial, the Supreme Court heard yesterday.

Alexta Gill, a 31-year-old Guyanese national, has denied allegations that he smuggled the drugs into Bermuda on March 4, 2023.

Khadija Beddeau, for the Crown, urged the jury to return a guilty verdict, citing what she called lies told during the trial by the accused.

Ms Beddeau told the court that the Bermuda Police Service had pursued all leads within its legal mandate to gather evidence in the case.

She said: “Comments may be made to you that the investigation was poor — but, members of the jury, we reject this wholeheartedly.”

The court heard that Mr Gill arrived on the island with his girlfriend, Jhordan George-Horsford, on a flight from Toronto on March 2, but one of their suitcases missed the flight and arrived two days later.

A search of the bag revealed six “bricks” of plant material later confirmed to be 9,472.6 grams of cannabis, and a bottle of whiskey, which was found to contain liquid cocaine, from which 812.4g of the controlled drug was extracted.

Ms Beddeau said Ms George-Horsford and Mr Gill were both interviewed twice by the police.

She said that the accused was made aware that he was being questioned about drugs that had been found in his suitcase.

She added: “The police also ensured that the accused was aware of his rights and that these rights were upheld and respected.

“Despite being a foreign citizen, he was afforded legal representation, as anyone will be afforded in Bermuda.”

She said information was retrieved by the police from the accused’s mobile device and CCTV evidence was gathered during the investigation.

She said: “The accused cannot say, members of the jury, that he was not fairly investigated.

“He cannot say he was wrongfully or unfairly targeted. A proper investigation was done in relation to both persons and the accused is here before you.”

She added: “He wasn’t here as a tourist and he in fact agreed to transport those drugs into Bermuda as a way to pay off his debts.

“Think about the unbelievable things he asked us to believe as if such were true.”

Last week, Mr Gill maintained that he lied to police on the advice of Bruce Swan, his legal counsel during his police interviews.

However, he accepted he had not mentioned this when he previously stood trial for the same offence.

Ms Beddeau asked the jury: “Do you believe an attorney told him to lie? Doesn’t that sound to you like a whole heap of nonsense?”

She said that when Mr Gill had made admissions that he later claimed to be fabricated, “it was because he realised that the lies were not working”.

She told the jury she was confident that “those lies won’t work on you”.

Nicole Smith, representing Mr Gill, told the court in closing her defence that the evidence presented by the Crown was “deficient”.

She asked them: “If you knew that your luggage was going to come to Bermuda containing drugs, would you be prepared to fill out a lost luggage report for that piece of luggage?”

She added: “My client did not know about those drugs; he had no knowledge of it.”

She asked the jury to consider the gap in time between her client’s arrival and the arrival of the suitcase.

She said: “That black suitcase remained somewhere for two days while my client and his then girlfriend were in Bermuda.

“We don’t know who had access to that suitcase. So how can we connect my client with regards to this suitcase?”

Ms Smith told the jury to consider that the lead investigator, Detective Sergeant Dré Wilkinson, along with other officers in Bermuda, had not liaised with officials at Toronto Pearson International Airport where Mr Gill and Ms George-Horsford boarded a WestJet flight to the island.

She added: “It would have been prudent for the investigators to find out who had possible access to that black suitcase.”

Ms Smith told the jury that if they harboured doubts, they should find in favour of the defence.

Maintaining there were “inherent weaknesses” in the Crown’s case, she told the jury that, based on the evidence: “You will not be able to find my client guilty.”

The trial continues.

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