The captain of casino ship Niobe Corinthian will lose his career if he is convicted of importing gaming machines on the vessel, his lawyer claimed yesterday.

Elizabeth Christopher was urging magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo to find Panamanian national Fermin Alfonso Reyes not guilty of breaching Bermuda’s anti-gambling laws.

Reyes, 30, and the ship’s alleged managing director George Kezas, 72, have been on trial since last September in a court process that has been adjourned on numerous occasions.

The Niobe Corinthian arrived in Bermuda on July 24 2006, and was raided by Police on August 11 when she was moored at Marginal Wharf, St. David’s. The officers seized 100 slot machines, with Reyes arrested that day and Kezas two days later.

According to the charge the defendants now face, they either imported the machines or caused them to be imported with the intention of doing so, but they deny any wrongdoing.

During the trial their lawyers have argued they are not guilty for reasons including that the ship was only in Bermuda in transit and it was not intended that the machines should be used on the Island or in its waters.

In her closing speech to the magistrate yesterday, Ms Christopher said the word import was capable of “any number of meanings” under Bermuda law, and Mr. Tokunbo should not adopt a meaning that would penalise Reyes.

Describing the captain as “a person who did what he did innocently,” she said a conviction would render him unable to work as he would not be able to secure visas.

“Captain Reyes should have the benefit of any doubt caused by doubtful law,” argued Ms Christopher.

Kevin Bean, representing Kezas, argued his client was not even in Bermuda on July 24 when the ship arrived.

“Mr. Kezas was under the belief that the vessel’s next port having left Santa Domingo was to have been Antigua, and he was surprised to learn that it was en-route to Bermuda,” said Mr. Bean.

He claimed his client could not be guilty of importation if he never intended to bring the ship to the Island.

Earlier in yesterday’s proceedings, Reyes concluded evidence in his own defence by being cross-examined by Senior Crown counsel Carrington Mahoney.

In answer to questions from Mr. Mahoney, he confirmed he met someone named Neil Inchcup when the ship came to Bermuda for the first time in 2005, and again after he was released from Police custody in August 2006.

He agreed with Mr. Mahoney that he had on a previous occasion described Mr. Inchcup as “the guy acting as the owner” of the Niobe Corinthia> and Mr. Inchcup introduced himself as such.

Reyes also told the court he had telephone contact with a woman named Cheryl Albouy, with her asking how everything was on the ship and whether any provisions were needed.

Asked by Mr. Mahoney whether he had intended to dock the vessel in Bermuda, he replied: “I was instructed to do so.”

Asked whether he brought the vessel into port on July 24 2006 knowing gambling machines were on board, he replied that he did.

Mr. Tokunbo — who revealed he has filled eight notepads with his record of the evidence during the trial — will rule on the case on July 20.