Acting Magistrate Justin Williams fined a Pembroke man $1,400 and gave him a suspended prison sentence for drug possession.

But Freemont Omir Swan denied having cocaine when Police stopped him on Parson's Road, at 9.45 a.m. on February 22.

"I knew I had warrants, so I jumped in the back of the (Police) car,'' Swan told Mr. Williams. "I had the weed. I chewed it up and spat it out once we got going. And when I went into the Police station they called me right back out and said I forgot something.

"They said I left the rocks in the car. I didn't have any coke! I told them and I telling you take my fingerprints and you'll see that stuff wasn't mine.'' When Mr. Williams asked Swan if the two Police officers, Rosheen Albouy and Lakayann Outerbridge, were lying, Swan said: "I told them the herb was mine.

I was already in the Police station. I would never waste the court's time. It was probably already stashed there.

Det. Con. Albouy and P.c. Outerbridge both testified that when he was stopped Swan threw down his helmet and jumped in their Police car.

They got him out, made inquiries via radio and subsequently arrested him on another matter.

Before putting him in the car, Det. Con. Albouy checked the back seat where Swan had been sitting and found nothing.

Det. Con. Albouy said: "He said `you f***ing Police are so stupid'. I chewed up my spliff and spit it out.'' When he got out at Hamilton Police Station, they found four brown paper twists containing a rock like substance, cigarette papers and two lighters.

"He said he smoked weed breakfast, lunch and supper,'' Det. Con. Albouy said of Swan's question and answer interview.

When she confronted him about whether he had tried to ditch the cocaine and distance himself from it by rushing into Hamilton Police station, Swan said: "No comment, you're trying to bowl me.'' The officers went back to the site of the arrest less than an hour later to find a wad of damp cannabis which they seized and sent to the Government analyst.

Once Swan denied on the stand that he was a cocaine user, Prosecutor Graveney Bannister got permission to confront him on fines he got two years ago in a Jamaican court for cocaine and cannabis possession.

Mr. Bannister said two Bermudian officers testified against Swan in a Jamaican Magistrates' Court where he was fined more than $100,000 Jamaican dollars.

"The defendant is not a neophyte,'' he added. "He is well versed and a person who is in need of mending his ways.'' Mr. Williams fined Swan $1,000 for having the cocaine, $300 for having the cannabis, and $150 for possessing drug equipment.

He also imposed a three month suspended sentence for two years for the possession. The fines are to be paid by November 15.