A Jamaican who attempted to import almost $90,000 worth of crack cocaine was sentenced in Supreme Court on Friday to eight years in prison.

Leonard Wynter, 41, who lives in Ontario, pleaded guilty to importing cocaine on December 23.

The court heard Wynter was ?nervous, fidgety and sweating profusely? when he was taken to the Customs desk at the Airport and searched on December 23 last year.

Wynter denied swallowing drugs but agreed to have an X-ray. He was taken to the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital where the X-ray revealed several foreign objects.

Over several days he excreted 55 pellets, which were later analysed to contain 283.2 grams of free-base cocaine (crack) . The substance had a street value of $88,400.

The father of four was cooperative with the authorities and told them a man named Patrick gave him the pellets and said he would receive 5,000 Canadian dollars to smuggle the drugs.

Crown counsel Juan Wolffe said Wynter could have told the Customs officer earlier that he had drugs on him. He added that the court should not be sympathetic to Wynter because he has four children.

He said the appropriate sentence should start at six years.

Lawyer Larry Scott said Wynter entered his plea once he was able to get advice from a lawyer.

?He did not know the seriousness of how drugs are treated in Bermuda,? he said.

Mr. Scott said the cost of holding and trying foreign nationals in this society was a ?problem? in a small community.

?We have to look at the social backdrop when we sentence foreign nationals,? he added.

He suggested a three and a half to four year sentence.

Wynter apologised for the bad decision that he made.

?I had run aground financially,? he explained. ?Of the four mouths I have to feed other than my own, I was more or less in a vulnerable position.?

Chief Justice Richard Ground said drugs couriers needed to be deterred ? especially those in financially vulnerable situations.