Magistrate Edward King has rejected an application of no case to answer in the trial of a man accused of working without a permit.

Craig Raymond Trembath, who is employed as a management consultant by Apex Management Services, denies contravening the conditions of his work permit on June 17 last year when Immigration officers reportedly saw him handling merchandise on two occasions.

Immigration inspector Isaura Reis told the court how she and another Immigration official, Andrea Daniels, had seen 45-year-old Trembath working at the Gift Shoppe at Marriott's Castle Harbour Resort and at a stall at Harbour Nights on Front Street later that same day.

Mrs. Reis testified she saw Trembath smoking a cigarette outside of the shop in the hotel lobby and that he returned to the shop to hang a sign on the doorknob, saying that he would return at 11 a.m.

She said he returned a few minutes later and sold an item to a customer before she and her colleague, Ms Daniels, approached and questioned him.

"He said he managed a company called Apex Management Services and part of his function was to fill in,'' Mrs. Reis said.

But she stated when Trembath was told he was contravening Bermudian Immigration laws and that members of the public had seen him working in the shop regularly he became nervous and broke out in a sweat.

The inspectors saw Trembath again when they attended Harbour Nights that night.

Immigration inspector Andrea Daniels testified she saw Trembath working at a stall with another man, later identified as Trembath's business associate Jerry Smith, selling ceramic lighthouses.

Mr. Smith testified that he was in business with Trembath under the name "Castle Ceramics'' and that Trembath used to help run the stall on Harbour Nights.

However, Mr. Smith also testified that he never received any personal funds from Trembath. The cheques he received as investments in "Castle Ceramics'' always came from the management company which employed Trembath.

Mr. Smith was unable to state how Trembath dealt with profits from the venture designated for Apex Management Services.

Defence lawyer Paul Woolgar submitted on Friday that the Crown had no case on the basis that Trembath had been charged with "not having any permission whatsoever to engage in gainful occupation in Bermuda'' when it had clearly been established that Trembath did possess a valid work permit.

However, Mr. King did not accept the submission, pointing out to Mr. Woolgar that the issue was not whether Trembath possessed a work permit but whether "he engaged in gainful occupation in such circumstances that he contravened the terms of his employment''.

The trial was adjourned until tomorrow.