a court heard yesterday.

Peyton, 23, of Brooklyn, New York testified for the first time in Supreme Court. A jury is expected to decide his fate late this afternoon.

He is charged with importing cocaine worth $243,166 into Bermuda on May 22, 1996 and possessing the drug with intent to supply.

Peyton admitted that he lied when he told Customs officer O'Brien Roberts that he had bought several baby products that he had stored in his luggage.

On further inspection of the baby products -- disposable diapers, baby oil, baby wipes and two bottles of baby powder -- the officer discovered that there were two bags of cocaine hidden inside the powder bottles. Peyton told the court that he had not bought the products himself. He said that he received them from a man called "Mike'' who had asked him to deliver them to a woman called Sharon once he arrived in Bermuda.

Additionally, Peyton said that he told Police that his Bermuda address would be 36 Hermitage Road -- which does not exist -- even though he knew that he was going to be staying at the Sandpiper Guest House.

When asked why he lied to Police about purchasing the baby products he said: "I told them (that) because I did not want them to take them away. They were a gift for a friend of mine and I did not want them to take them away from me.'' Crown counsel Charlene Scott, however, suggested that the real reason why he did not want them to be taken away was because he knew that there were drugs inside. But Peyton denied this.

In a statement to Police that he wrote himself, Peyton said that he knew there was contraband among the baby items and had been given $1,000 to bring it to Bermuda.

Yesterday he clarified his answer and said that Det. Con. Rudolph Richardson told him to write this and add it to his statement.

Peyton also said that Det. Con. Richardson told him that if he "cooperated and told Police what they wanted to know'' they would have let him go home.

Despite allegations of inducements and tampering with the accused's statement Det. Con. Richardson was not called to the stand to give his version of events.

Det. Con. Richardson is already the subject of an internal Police investigation on charges that he tried to get a woman detective to change her statement in the Ellsworth Wilson trial.

Chief Justice Austin Ward ruled that Det. Con. Richardson should be brought before the court but the defence declined to call him to the stand.

Peyton's trial is expected to go before the jury this afternoon. Both Ms Scott and defence lawyer Elizabeth Christopher will make their closing arguments to the jury and Mr. Justice Ward will give his directions on the law.

Last December, a Supreme Court jury was unable to reach a verdict after the four-man, eight-woman jury deliberated for four-and-a-half hours.