The man on trial for importing a street-valued $300,000 worth of heroin put forth his own theory of what happened to him on board the flight from London to Bermuda in Supreme Court yesterday.

Previously, the jury had heard Crown evidence that Floyd McCoy Hayward, 45, of Pembroke, had been found unconscious aboard the flight from Gatwick Airport to Bermuda by a flight attendant an hour before landing.

When Hayward could not be roused, the attendant called for medical assistance. A doctor on board examined Hayward. Upon finding a needlemark in his arm, amongst other evidence, she diagnosed him as being under the influence of some drug.

A bag containing 81.5 grams of heroin was then found in Hayward's underpants.

Hayward testified yesterday to the court: "From what I heard it's obvious that someone tried to take my life and draw attention to me. After hearing everything against me, I've come to the conclusion that something must've taken place.

"I can't really say for sure what happened - I don't know exactly what took place," he continued as Crown counsel Khamisi Tokunbo pressed him further.

"No matter where you go, or how you look at it, it comes down to the same thing: something must have taken place," he said repeatedly.

Mr. Tokunbo made several attempts to catch Hayward off guard. "Did you purchase the plastic bag containing the drugs in Amsterdam (where you were visiting your daughter)?" Mr. Tokunbo asked.

"No", Hayward replied, fielding off the trick questions. "I know nothing about it."

"What did you do in the lavatory on the plane?" Mr. Tokunbo asked.

"What everyone else does," Hayward replied. "I used the toilet." He denied suggestions that he had injected, snorted or smoked drugs in the bathroom on the plane.

When asked about a flight attendant's observation that Hayward looked as though he had "smoked dope" before getting on the flight, Hayward replied: "If I see you down the road and you look happy, does that mean you are on dope?"

"I suggest that you're telling us that someone tried to take your life and draw attention to you because you are actually trying to divert attention from yourself to a phantom because of your guilt," Mr. Tokunbo informed Hayward, who denied the suggestion.

Hayward could not recall any package being inside his underpants when he boarded the plane. "So did someone put it in your underpants?" Mr. Tokunbo asked.

"Someone had to have," Hayward answered. "It couldn't walk, couldn't run, couldn't fly.

"What I am saying is that I didn't get on the plane with any drugs," he continued. "So how did it get into my underpants? I want to know how the hell a needlemark got in my arm."

"You said earlier that you had to be stupid if you had done so (overdosed on the plane)," Mr. Tokunbo observed. "(I suggest) that exposure came about because you were very stupid indeed by injecting/snorting/or smoking in the lavatory or before you got on the plane."

Above Ms Christopher's objection, Hayward replied: "That's not true and you're stupid if you believe it." When admonished by Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons, Hayward's lawyer attempted to intervene, throwing her agreement with Hayward's assessment of Mr. Tokunbo in. Finally, however, Hayward apologised to Mr. Tokunbo.

Hayward continued to deny all allegations against him. When asked if he disputed that there was heroin in his blood, he replied: "I have to accept that because I'm here (on trial), but I don't accept it personally, no."

In his closing argument, Mr. Tokunbo listed twelve pieces of circumstantial evidence for the jury suggesting that Hayward was importing the drug to Bermuda when he overdosed en route. These included the needlemark in Hayward's arm, the presence of properties of heroin in his blood, the concealed bag of heroin in his underwear, and that Hayward was on a plane entering Bermuda from London.

He called the accused's theory: "Improbable, impossible, and downright incredible.

Ms Christopher noted to the jury in her closing, the difficulties of forming a defence when "the defence is in the dark at to what happened".

She pointed out that: "Injection (of heroin) is the only method not requiring deliberate participation on the behalf of the user (as opposed to smoking or snorting the drug)".

She also observed that there was no evidence of Hayward actually bringing the drugs on board the flight, and that there was no evidence (such as fingerprints) of Hayward touching the bag.

Ms Simmons will begin her summation of the case tomorrow morning, and the jury is expected to begin deliberations by the afternoon.