Two young parents were sentenced to spend six years behind bars in the Supreme Court yesterday for importing heroin and cocaine with a street value of almost $200,000 in an effort to ease their financial troubles.

Danita Trott, 23, of Ferry Reach Road, St. George's, and Kyjuan Saltus,25, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to joint charges of importing the drugs to the Island on December 21, 2003.

Tearfully the couple, who each have several children, told Assistant Justice Carlisle Greaves that they were sorry for their actions and sorry for the embarrassment it had caused their friends and family members.

Crown counsel Graveney Bannister told the court that on December 21 Trott was stopped at the airport by a Customs Officer. She was questioned about carrying drugs to which she replied: "Of course not."

She subsequently admitted to Police that she was carrying drugs and was then taken to the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital where a packet wrapped in black tape and inserted into her vagina was removed.

A Government analyst confirmed that Trott was carrying 28 grams of cocaine with a street value of $8,375 and heroin worth $148,020 at street value.

The court also heard that Trott had been enrolled at the Bermuda College and had intended to pursue an education in Jamaica but did not go through with her plans. Mr. Bannister said Trott was to be paid $7,000 for importing the drugs.

Mr. Bannister said the defendant had admitted in her statement that she imported the drugs to pay bills for her children and to give her mother some money.

Mr. Bannister suggested to the court that both Trott and Saltus should receive the same sentence as they both conspired to import the drug. "The fact that he conspired should not reduce the sentence," said Mr. Bannister, adding that Saltus showed no remorse for his actions.

Craig Attridge, who represented Trott, said for Mr. Bannister to suggest they should be treated the same was "laughable". He said Trott had expressed shame and embarrassment in a social inquiry report and had admitted her actions to the Police and had been "preyed upon and taken advantage by Saltus."

In his statement made before the sentencing, Mr. Greaves said he took their apologies into account, but he felt Trott, who was strongly influenced by Saltus to become a drug mule, could have refused to participate in his plans.

He said she also spurned opportunities for education and needed to receive counselling to avoid having her life fall into a downward spiral. Mr. Greaves said he considered Saltus's guilty plea but believed he should also receive a sentencing equal to Trott's as he was the "brain behind the operation".

Mr. Greaves ordered the two receive extensive counselling through drug treatment programmes.