fined almost $2,000 for a string of offences.

Maurice Smith, of Mission Lane, Pembroke, was handed fines worth $1,980 and banned from driving for a year.

Smith, 24, of Mission Lane, Pembroke, pleaded guilty to obstruction and violently resisting Police officers in August 1996.

He had initially pleaded not guilty -- but failed to attend his trial at Magistrates' Court last year.

Prosecutor Sgt. Phil Taylor told the same court on Monday that Smith had struggled violently with narcotics officers as they tried to search and arrest him on Deepdale Road, Pembroke.

Smith, then of no fixed address, had been part of a group of youths standing by the roadside.

He told the court: "I'm very sorry. I didn't think the police had any right to search me.'' Smith, who works at Marriott's Castle Harbour Resort, pleaded guilty and was fined $800 to be paid by December 31.

He was also fined $230 for speeding in a car, $350 for drink-driving on a moped and $100 for possession of cannabis.

The drugs had been found in his sock as he was being held at Hamilton Police Station last May. Smith had spent an hour in custody following the drink-driving offence on Kindley Field Road, St. George's.

He was also fined $500 yesterday for driving without a licence and speeding at 71 kph on a motorcycle.

Senior Magistrate Will Francis gave him two 12-month driving bans, to run concurrently.