Raising his hands up in joy and profusely thanking Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo, a Somerset man was acquitted of importing homosexual pornographic films.

Dwight Lambert, 41, said "I'm very happy. It was common sense. I expected this verdict.

"It's 2007. I do think the Bermudian public is more sophisticated than the interpreters of the law give them credit. If there is no review of the act done now more people will have their constitutional rights trampled on by Government officials.

"With the number of images and different means for the citizens of Bermuda and the world to obtain these images, what's the difference between a DVD and downloading them from the Internet?"

Lambert, of Sound View Court, Somerset, was accused of shipping 28 pornographic DVDs into Bermuda on February 17, March 3, May 9 and August 30 last year.

Crown counsel Nicole Smith had argued the material was contrary to the 1973 Obscene Publications Act.

"The Crown does not want this to become an argument about whether homosexuality is moral," said Miss Smith.

"However, it contends that Bermuda society being a conservative society, and if the public at large were to view such acts - the public at large being children at risk, men and women of all ages - the Crown contends that those DVDs will undoubtedly be viewed as being obscene."

Yesterday, however, Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo found Lambert not guilty because the Crown had not proved the material was obscene.

Mr. Tokunbo said: "In article two point one the Act says: An article shall be deemed to be obscene for the purposes of this Act if its effect, taken as a whole, is to outrage contemporary standards of decency or humanity accepted by the public at large in Bermuda.

"The only thing prosecution did was to bring two experts. The two experts testified on sexual deviance and development and children, but they did not testify to the outrage of the community or the public at large," he said.

He then found Lambert not guilty and excused him from court.