jailed for six years.

Winslow V. Durrant, whose record is five pages long, had been out of jail two weeks when he robbed Warwick Mini-Mart with another man.

Brandishing the machete, he ordered shop owner Lydia Lines to open the till and took nearly $300.

He admitted armed robbery at the Middle Road store, saying he used some of the cash to buy food and crack cocaine.

Supreme Court heard Durrant was divorced and unemployed, with a 36-year record of drug offences and theft. He had been living rough on Ord Road.

Crown prosecutor Mr. Brian Calhoun said: "If there was ever an example of becoming addicted to drugs and falling into the drug culture and other derivative offences, this man's record demonstrates that amply.'' Robbery was on the increase in Bermuda, he said, and was a serious problem especially when weapons were used.

Although Durrant had given information, Mr. Calhoun was not sure whether there would be enough evidence to convict the alleged accomplice.

He said the minimum sentence for such an offence was five years and the maximum 14.

Defence lawyer Mr. Philip Perinchief said: "It would appear from that record that Mr. Durrant falls very, very clearly within the Tumim Report agenda.'' There was clear relation between his repeat offences and the need to support his drug habit.

When Durrant came out of prison on February 20 last he was bereft of any means of supporting himself, he said.

This was not an excuse or reason for the crime. "But something has to be put in place to sustain people like Mr. Durrant, to at least begin to assist him to steer away from the kinds of activities that he consistently and constantly seems to gravitate towards.'' He did not intend to use the machete, Mr. Perinchief said.

He asked for a lenient sentence of less than five years.

Durrant told the court that when he came out of prison he had only $12. After bus fare from Dockyard and food he was left with $4.

"I went to the place I was staying and the people told me they had no room there.'' Employers would not give him work because he had been in prison, and he spent two weeks sleeping "nowhere''.

"At the time I felt like hanging myself,'' he said. "I got to the point where I thought I might as well do something and go back to prison. I was fed up.'' Puisne Judge the Hon. Mrs. Justice Wade said robbery was a "threat to the social order''.

She added: "In the interests of the Country the court must send a signal to those that are minded to commit armed robbery.''