A Supreme Court judge fell asleep on the bench yesterday afternoon in the trial of a man accused of fraudulently obtaining his and his father's Bermudian status ? much to the bemusement of the respective legal teams.

Defence lawyer Saul Froomkin was in the middle of a lengthy legal submission in the absence of the jury in front of Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves (pictured), only to look up from his notes to be confronted with a lifeless Mr. Greaves with his head bowed and his eyes firmly shut. The five lawyers in the court room, who included Crown counsels Paula Tyndale, Oonagh Vaucrosson and defence lawyers Mr. Froomkin, Victoria Pearman and Charles Richardson, sat in an embarrassed silence for close to a minute, squirming in their seats and clearly uncertain as to how to proceed.

Eventually, the female court clerk, who herself was deeply engrossed in a book throughout the whole episode and was blissfully unaware of the sleeping judge behind her, got up from her chair and tentatively shook Mr. Justice Greaves' arm to rouse him from his slumber.

Smiling broadly, a bleary-eyed Mr. Justice Greaves apologised and jokingly suggested to Mr. Froomkin that he had already secured a tight grip on the argument being made and had decided to take leave of proceedings for a brief moment.

Coughing repeatedly throughout the day and sounding somewhat hoarse, Mr. Justice Greaves explained he had just returned "from a rather unhealthy" three week holiday and was feeling a little worse for wear.

This amusing incident was in marked contrast to the rest of the day, which proceeded without any major incidents as a jury was selected and the defence made a number of submissions which had to be heard before any evidence is brought to light.

Robert William Martyn, 42, of Smith's, faces two charges of conspiracy to defraud the Chief Immigration Officer to obtain Bermudian status for his father William Robert Martyn in September 2000 and knowingly uttering a false birth certificate in his own name on or about September 18, 2000.

Legal arguments are scheduled to continue this morning.