Seymour v. The Queen (Bermuda)

Seymour v. The Queen (Bermuda) [2007] UKPC 59 (05 November 2007)

Privy Council Appeal No 30 of 2006

Anthony Eugene Seymour Appellant

v.

The Queen Respondent

FROM

THE COURT OF APPEAL OF

BERMUDA

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JUDGMENT OF THE LORDS OF THE JUDICIAL

COMMITTEE OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL

Delivered the 5^th November 2007

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Present at the hearing:-

Lord Hoffmann

Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers

Lord Scott of Foscote

Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood

Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury

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[Delivered by Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers]

Introduction

On 14 March 2002 the appellant went to the emergency department of the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Bermuda. His heart was racing and his blood pressure was raised. He told the staff that he had swallowed 19 bags of heroin. During the course of the next two days two operations were performed on the appellant that removed a total of 18 wrapped pellets of heroin from his body. These amounted to 112.8 grams of heroin with a street value in Bermuda of $518,180. The appellant had booked a flight to Miami, Florida, where his wife lived. He went to hospital because he was taken ill as a result of one pellet escaping from its wrapping. It was the prosecution case that he intended to take the drugs to Miami and then sell them.

The appellant was arrested by the police and, in due course, indicted on two counts. The first was of importing a controlled drug contrary to section 4(3) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1972 ("MDA"). The second was of possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply contrary to section 6(3) of the same Act. At the start of the trial the appellant made a formal admission pursuant to section 30 of the Evidence Act 1905 that he had been in possession of 112.88 grams of heroin. At the end of the prosecution case he submitted that there was no case to answer on either count. The prosecution did not resist the submission in respect of the first count, for there was no evidence that the appellant had imported the drugs.

The judge rejected the submission in respect of the second count, and the jury convicted the defendant on this count. He challenged the judge's ruling before the Court of Appeal of Bermuda, without success. He renews that challenge before their Lordships.

The appellant was convicted on 19 March 2004 and sentenced to a term of 13 years imprisonment.

The Misuse of Drugs Act

Because of the approach of the Court of Appeal to the construction of section 6(3) of MDA it is helpful to set out the whole of sections 4 to 11 of the Act:

"Importation and exportation of controlled…

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