to Bermuda in her body was sentenced to eight years in prison yesterday.

"You brought death into Bermuda,'' Puisne Judge the Hon. Mr. Justice Ground said before sentencing her.

New Yorker Gema Carrion, 20, wept as she begged for the court's leniency.

"I'm sorry. I regret what I did...I just ask for mercy for my ignorance,'' she said before sentencing.

Mr. Justice Ground gave her credit for her guilty plea, her youth and that she may have been led astray.

He also took into account the fact she had attempted to cooperate with Police, though the information she supplied did not result in any arrests.

When Crown counsel Mr. Brian Calhoun was unable to say why "nothing came'' of Carrion supplying them with the names of her local contacts, Mr. Justice Ground demanded to know why the investigating officer was not in court.

"There really ought to have been an officer present in case I had any questions,'' the judge said. "I expected one to be here.'' Carrion's lawyer Mr. Philip Perinchief had asked for a sentence in the eight to ten year range, noting the Court of Appeal had set a precedent for crack and heroin importation cases to carry minimum sentences of 12 years -- 50 percent higher than cocaine importations.

Mr. Calhoun said the drugs were found on Carrion when she arrived at the airport on May 11.

She was strip searched by Customs and Police and then taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital where a second search revealed 127 grams of 77 percent pure heroin wrapped in pellets that were concealed in her vagina and stomach.

Mr. Calhoun said the heroin had an estimated street value of $222,000 and Carrion was paid $3,000 to deliver it here.

She supplied Police with the name of an older American woman and man who asked her to courier the drugs and also two pieces of paper with names of local contacts written on them.

But her cooperation did not lead to any arrests, Mr. Calhoun said. Mr.

Perinchief said the case was sad in that she had been led to import the heroin due to some "stark'' circumstances.

She had just lost her fiance -- who had supported her while she went to college -- in a road accident. Her father had just suffered a heart attack and lost the mortgage on his house.

And she was barely making $150 a week.

He said Carrion wanted to "turn back'' once the drugs were inside her, but a "veiled threat'' had been made against her father forcing her to go through with the delivery.

At one point she went to the bathroom to remove the drugs, but could not get them out.

"There was a great deal of reluctance and resistance on her part,'' the lawyer said.