Dayle-Smith, recently convicted on drug charges, acted alone.

Mr. Warner made the claim during day one of the Supreme Court jury trial against his client Vincent Oneal Douglas.

Douglas and Dayle-Smith were charged in early 1995 with importing cocaine as well as possession of cocaine with intent to supply.

Earlier this month, Dayle-Smith pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven years in jail.

The jury is not to attach any weight to Dayle-Smith's plea and sentencing because it may have been to protect herself and minimise her sentence, Mr.

Warner said.

"I said (to Police that the bag containing the drugs) wasn't mine and I'll give it to who I was instructed to give it to,'' Dayle-Smith said yesterday.

Douglas was arrested after allegedly collecting the drugs from Dayle-Smith after her return from New York.

After Dayle-Smith was arrested, she went with Police to her Pembroke home to await Douglas. He was to receive the drugs from a Colombian individual named Roberto who lives in New York, it was alleged.

On February 29, 1995, cocaine was discovered inside Dayle-Smith's belongings at the Airport. Worth an estimated $155,625, the drugs were hidden inside bottles of hair products.

"You (Dayle-Smith) independently and on your own set up a deal with Roberto and then attempted to smuggle the drugs you got into Bermuda,'' Mr. Warner said.

Mr. Warner also suggested Jamaican-born Dayle-Smith lied to a Customs officer when asked if she received anything from overseas to bring back into Bermuda.

"I don't recall. It wasn't on my mind that much. Roberto told me he had a little gift to send to (Douglas),'' she said.

The package which contained the cocaine was "for your own use,'' Mr. Warner said.

"No,'' replied Dayle-Smith.

She told the court she suspected drugs might be in the items given her by Roberto but added that she checked it and believed everything to be "all right.'' Through further questioning, Dayle-Smith admitted she had met with Roberto while she was in New York that week in January and that he had apparently asked her to swallow drugs and bring them back to Bermuda.

Dayle-Smith said she went to New York for her own business purposes and that prior to leaving Bermuda she was asked by Douglas to take $10,000 to Roberto.

Dayle-Smith told the court that she could not justify $10,000 but agreed to take $2,000 to Roberto, an individual she said she had seen in Bermuda.

The trial, presided over by Puisne Judge Richard Ground, resumes today at 11:15 a.m. in the Supreme Court. Crown counsel is Khamisi Tokumbo.