A 12-month prison sentence was handed down to a car washer found guilty of picking up a package of almost $60,000 worth of cannabis hidden in Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans.

Kevin Wayne Smith, 47, of Union Street, Pembroke was found guilty by a jury's majority verdict on January 30, 2005, of possessing 1,195 grams of cannabis with intent to supply on May 28, 2003.

In Supreme Court on Friday, Crown counsel Shakira Dill said the maximum sentence for possessing a drug with intent to supply was life imprisonment.

However, a Social Inquiry Report said Smith still had not accepted responsibility for his crime and was a "moderate re-offending risk," Ms Dill said.

Mitigating factors to reduce his sentence included assisting the Police from the start of its investigations, she said.

Defence lawyer Rick Woolridge said his client picked up the package at the request of another man, not before the courts.

"In essence, he was used," Mr. Woolridge said. "Perhaps he ought to have known he was being used."

In his sentencing, Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves said the case had provided some difficulty to him as it related to the kind and degree of sentencing to impose.

"No doubt he was willing to do that delivery for the real culprit in this case," Mr. Justice Greaves said. "A person in these days ought not to sell their soul for the proverbial reward of 30 pieces of silver and then plead simplicity to avoid the punishment of society for their selfish acts."

He said in the case would attract a sentence of around 18 to 36 months in Magistrates' Court.

As Smith's assistance to Police deserved a 50 percent discount, a sentence of 12 months would not be unreasonable, the judge said.

Time already spent by Smith in custody would be taken into account, he said.