The trial of a man accused of smuggling more than 5kg of cannabis to the Island began yesterday in Supreme Court.

Zicco Pearman, 25, has denied a charge of importing six packages of the drug — discovered by customs officers in his suitcases — in an incident on July 30 last year.

As the trial began yesterday, Customs Officer Keisha Hollis told the court that she was carrying out compliance checks at LF Wade International Airport that afternoon when Jet Blue flight 1731 arrived from New York.

At around 1.30pm, she said Mr Pearman approached her desk with two black suitcases, a knapsack and a PlayStation 4 box.

“He came to my counter and said he needed to go outside and get an ATM card from his brother to pay his duty,” she said.

“I escorted Mr Pearman outside. He received an ATM card from a gentleman and went back to the cashier to pay his duty.”

Several minutes later he returned to her counter to be processed.

She told the court she asked Mr Pearman a series of questions. He told her that he had been in New York for four days on vacation and to purchase items for his daughter, and had stayed at the JFK Inn, which was a five to ten minute drive from the airport.

He further said that he had withdrawn $1,500 from an ATM machine at the airport before he left, but now only had $2 left in his possession.

While being processed, Ms Hollis said Mr Pearman’s phone rang.

She questioned him about the caller, who he said was the mother of his child, and noticed that he had received a text from someone named “Tav”, asking him to take a taxi to his house.

Ms Hollis said she then searched Mr Pearman’s knapsack and X-rayed the PlayStation, finding nothing unusual.

However when she examined the first suitcase, she saw that the zipper on the lining of the case was backwards and inside out.

“I asked why the zipper was backwards,” she told the court. “Mr Pearman replied: ‘It’s a new suitcase. I purchased it for $59 from a guy on the street’.

“I unzipped the lining and inspected the sides and bottom of the suitcase. I lifted the black plastic board at the bottom of the suitcase and found a package wrapped in black paper and black tape.”

In total six packages were discovered hidden in the base of the suitcase.

Asked about the packages, Mr Pearman said he had no idea how they came to be in his suitcase or what they contained, but said he had left his bags unattended while in New York.

Ms Hollis said Mr Pearman told her: “I was picked up at the airport in a van. I had one suitcase at the time. The driver stopped so I could buy another suitcase and then took me out to do some shopping.

“I left both suitcases with the driver. After shopping I went to my hotel.

“On Sunday afternoon the suitcases were brought to me at my hotel.”

Asked if the driver who picked him up at the airport had a sign, Mr Pearman said the man had just signalled towards him and he assumed it was the shuttle service he had already booked.

A search of the second suitcase revealed another six, similarly wrapped packages.

Asked what he had to say about the discovery, he said: “I have nothing to say. It seems my life is over right now.”

Under cross examination by lawyer Marc Daniels, Ms Hollis said it was possible that a word or two in her statement was not correct, but insisted that Mr Pearman had told him that the bags had been dropped off to him.

Mr Daniels also suggested that Mr Pearman had told her his bank account had been frozen, but Ms Hollis said she could not recall him saying that.

• It is The Royal Gazette’s policy not to allow comments on stories regarding criminal court cases. This is to prevent any statements being published that may jeopardise the outcome of that case.