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Prosecution: 'It beggars belief that Hatherley didn't know it was drugs in the bag'

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Craig Hatherley (Photo by Mark Tatem)

Prosecutors yesterday called for a jury to find two men guilty of conspiring to import almost 400g of heroin to Bermuda.However defence attorney Victoria Pearman said the evidence presented to the jury was filled with holes and speculation.Lorenzo Lottimore, 33, and Craig Hatherley, 27, both deny charges of conspiring with David Carroll and other to import diamorphine, better known as heroin, to Bermuda between an unknown date and June 2, 2011.Mr Lottimore allegedly organised the importation with Mr Carroll and Brian Wade, a Philadelphia baggage.Mr Wade, however, was secretly working with US Homeland Security after being caught stashing a package of cannabis in a Bermuda-bound plane in October 2010.Mr Hatherley’s alleged role in the conspiracy was to get the drugs to Mr Wade. While prosecutors claim he arranged to meet with a friend of Wade in New York, the friend was actually an undercover agent and the meeting was recorded.During the brief meeting Mr Hatherley gave the undercover officer a package containing heroin. US analysts measured the heroin to be 36.9 percent pure and weigh 397.6g, but Bermudian analysts estimated the drugs to be 30 percent pure and weigh 388.78g.The drugs could be sold on the streets of Bermuda for as much as $997,000 based on the US measurements, or $775,000 based on the Bermudian measurements.On June 1, 2011, US officers placed a dummy package containing flour on a flight from Philadelphia to Bermuda, which was collected by Bermudian baggage handler Loren Marshall, who hid it in a Thermos bottle.The court heard that Mr Marshall handed the Thermos to Carroll at Burchall’s Cove in Hamilton Parish that same day. When officers raided the area minutes later, they found the Thermos, still containing the fake drugs, hanging from a strap around Mr Lottimore’s neck.The Crown closed their case yesterday. Both of the defendants elected to not take the stand, and neither brought forward any witnesses.On Friday, the jury was read a statement by Computer Forensic Examiner Paul Weall, who said he retrieved data from several cell phones including a LG phone allegedly taken from Mr Lottimore’s pocket at Burchall’s Cove.And Intelligence Analyst for the Bermuda Police Service Amit Malde told the court that he had received telecommunications data regarding several cell phones, including those seized.Making his closing speech yesterday, Prosecutor Garrett Byrne told the court the records showed numerous phone calls and texts between a phone found in Mr Lottimore’s pocket and both Carroll and Wade — including several recorded by US authorities.While he acknowledged that Wade was not able to identify his Bermudian contact, who he called “Afro,” Mr Byrne said the evidence overwhelmingly pointed to Mr Lottimore.Along with the phone evidence, Mr Byrne said officers spotted Mr Lottimore at Burchall’s Cove meeting with Carroll on two occasions; once the day after a failed attempt to collect the drugs and again the day after the dummy package was picked up.On the second occasion, Mr Byrne noted that the dummy package was found hanging from Mr Lottimore’s neck.He also told the court that a Western Union document detailing a $1,500 transfer was discovered in Mr Lottimore’s bedroom with identical information to a transfer made to Wade under a pseudonym as payment.“Either it was the most extraordinary coming together of coincidences in this case or the man called Afro was Lorenzo Lottimore,” Mr Byrne said.Regarding Mr Hatherley, Mr Byrne said surveillance footage clearly showed the defendant meeting with an undercover officer and giving him a package of heroin wrapped in a towel, along with a quantity of cash.“There is no doubt it’s Mr Hatherley in the video getting into the Lexus,” Mr Byrne said. “Why is he phoning Brian Wade and why has he handed off a bag of drugs covered by a towel to a complete stranger?“He must have known what he was involved in was something nefarious. It beggars belief that Mr Hatherley didn’t know it was drugs in the bag.”However Ms Pearman, representing Mr Lottimore, said prosecutors were asking the jury to fill in several holes in the case.She said it was a leap of logic to determine that Mr Lottimore was Afro, saying Mr Lottimore was not a suspect until officers saw a man riding a motorcycle they identified as his at the first meeting at Burchall’s Cove.Ms Pearman acknowledged that Mr Lottimore was at Burchall’s Cove on June 1, but said there was no evidence to suggest that he was aware of the contents of the Thermos, much less that he was involved in it’s importation.And regarding a search of Mr Lottimore’s home, she told the jury that police discovering documents with Mr Lottimore’s name in a bedroom did not necessarily make the bedroom his.“You might find things with my name on it in my friend’s house too. That doesn’t mean that’s where I live,” she said.“We are not saying it’s a coincidence. We are saying [the Crown] have to satisfy us, to make you sure that these came from Mr Lottimore’s bedroom.”The trial is expected to continue tomorrow with the defence concluding their closing speeches.

Lorenzo Lottimore (Photo by Mark Tatem)