A young man who admitted smuggling at least $1.3 million of cannabis resin could face as much as 12 years in prison.

Ty Lawes, 21, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to importing more than 16kg of cannabis resin on July 20, 2023.

Khadija Beddeau, for the Crown, said Lawes should face anywhere between eight and 12 years in jail.

However, Mark Pettingill, for the defence, reminded the court that his client was a child at the time of the offence and should not have even appeared in the higher court.

He added: “We are going to take a 17-year-old who had no business being tried in this court let roam for four years and jail him, when we should have figured out what to do with him while he was still a child.

“I have defended some bad young men — this is not one of them.”

Puisne Judge Alan Richards heard Lawes, from Pembroke, flew to Bermuda from London when he was subjected to a secondary search.

Customs officers, according to Ms Beddeau, noted that he looked “uncertain” and told them he packed his own bag when asked.

One officer found a tracksuit that was not declared and, when questioned about it, Lawes said: “It’s not over £200.”

Officers that went through the tracksuit found a heat-treated package that they found suspicious.

They later conducted an X-ray scan of Lawes’s suitcase and found seven more heat-sealed packages.

He was arrested on suspicion of drug importation, but Lawes was reluctant to talk.

Ms Beddeau told the court that analyses of the packages later discovered 16,855 grams of cannabis resin.

A drug expert, according to her, said the drugs could sell for $1.8 million if sold by the ounce or $3.3 million if sold by the gram.

Ms Beddeau said Lawes was used as a “drug mule” since the amount of contraband brought over was far more than one would have for personal use.

She added that he was about two months shy of his 18th birthday at the time.

Ms Beddeau said drugs were a “serious problem” in Bermuda that led to crime, addiction and family stress.

She added that the idea of Bermuda being a place to import drugs tarnished the country’s international reputation.

Ms Beddeau pointed to several bits of case law, where judges recommended 12 years’ imprisonment to deter those bringing in large amounts of drugs.

However, Mr Pettingill pointed out “the elephant in the room” — that his client was a minor at the time, arguing further that he should not have been tried in the Supreme Court.

He added it took years for his client, who came before the courts for this incident in February 2025, to actually face a charge.

“He should not have been here,” Mr Pettingill said. “Respectfully, he simply should not have been here and it should not have taken as long as it did.”

Mr Pettingill pointed out that his client couldn’t have been the “mastermind” of an effort to package and traffic drugs into the country.

He said, instead, that Lawes had been targeted by drug dealers, as they usually look to exploit people who weren’t “aware” as mules.

Mr Pettingill said the court should not only consider Lawes’s age at the time of the offence but the length of time it took for the case to move forward.

He added that his client should be tried in a way similar to a child, which would involve enacting a lengthy prison sentence only if there were no options.

He said: “You’ve got to have significantly more before you ever, ever, ever consider a lengthy time of imprisonment.”

Mr Pettingill said the situation was ultimately a “systemic failure”.

He added: “He got used. The only evidence is that he didn’t know. The question that the learned court should be asking itself is, why did it wait?”

When offered a chance to share his thoughts, Lawes said: “I’m sorry for hurting my friends and family, and I would like to get a second chance. I did what I thought was best at the time.”

Mr Justice Richards adjourned the case for sentencing at a later date.

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