An eight-man, four-woman jury released a Pembroke youth from Supreme Court yesterday when he was found not guilty of importing nearly $170,000 of cocaine to Bermuda.

Patrick Newton Stamp, 20, of Middle Town Road, had always maintained his innocence of importing and possessing 664.87 grams of cocaine with an estimated street value of $168,750 at the Bermuda International Airport on January 7, 2003.

Stamp?s first trial ended without a verdict on April 7 when a jury member was seen talking with Stamp?s family members outside court.

Outside court yesterday, Stamp?s mother Deborah Cousins said the verdict was the result she was praying for day and night.

?I have been a mother and father to Patrick all his life,? Mrs. Cousins said. ?I appreciate the jury, I am thankful to them and am so glad it?s over.?

Mrs. Cousins said her son?s arrest had been a very stressful ordeal for her family.

?Now I just want him to get on with his life, get a job, stay on the good and narrow,? she said. ?It?s all right now but we want him to look to better things.?

In his summation, Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves said the prosecution had to prove Stamp knew he carried drugs into the Customs Arrivals Hall.

?Knowledge is the main issue on behalf of the accused. Did he know he possessed and imported drugs,? Mr. Justice Greaves said. ?You may not surgically open a man?s head to determine his intent.?

The judge said just because Garnell Lamont Hollis, 25, of Abbot?s Cliff, Hamilton Parish, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven years in prison in April for importing cocaine on January 7, Stamp should not be painted with the same guilty brush.

?The Prosecution?s case is not only that he suspected, but that he knew,? he said. ?I think in this case there was no suggestion the drugs were in custody of anyone other than the accused.?

However, the defence?s case was that Stamp never knew of the cocaine.

Defence lawyer Craig Attridge said it would have been easy for Stamp to say the cocaine was Hollis? and he stuck it in his bag, however, he tried to tell the jury what really happened.

?What did Stamp say after he was asked if there was any drugs? ?I don?t know, check?. When I asked him why he said that, he said, ?I didn?t know it was in the first bag, there could have been anything in that one,?? Mr. Attridge said.

But Crown counsel Anthony Blackman said Stamp was the luckiest man in the world to shop at a factory outlet store and buy four plain T-shirt packages that mysteriously each contained two bags of cocaine.

?He must be real lucky,? Mr. Blackman said. ?Because he shared the same experience with another man (Hollis) who he does not know.?

And if drug dealers had gang wars for turf, Mr. Blackman said they would not stash their merchandise in T-shirts which they could not trace in order to collect their money.