A man accused of smuggling $649,900 worth of heroin to Bermuda told a jury yesterday he was forced to bring the drugs to the island by a Jamaican “don” who threatened to kill his family.

Omar Davy, 38, said he was kidnapped and beaten by a group of men over a $24,000 debt related to architectural drawings hours before he was to fly to Bermuda.

He added: “I was fearful and I was nervous that if I didn’t agree that they were going to start hitting me and choking me again.

“I feared for my life. I thought the only way out was to agree and I did.”

Mr Davy, a Jamaican national, denies importation of the drugs, possession with intent to supply and wilful obstruction of a customs officer on July 10 last year.

He told the Supreme Court he was an architectural draftsman and worked from his home in the country’s Manchester Parish.

He added he had done work for several politicians and “dons”, who the court heard were “community leaders” often tied to criminal activity.

Mr Davy said he was paid $24,000 by a don for a design job in February 2016, but never delivered the work.

He explained he had left Jamaica a month after taking the job and flew to Bermuda in June or July of that year.

He said he was wrongly arrested in Bermuda and police seized his laptop and a thumb-drive containing his work for the don.

When he received the computer back eight months later, the work was gone.

Mr Davy said in the months before his arrest, he was in Scarborough, Canada on a visit to family members.

He said he had bought a ticket to fly to Bermuda on July 10 to deal with a traffic ticket, but the day before he was confronted by two men outside his brother’s house.

Mr Davy said the men showed him videos of his family and one of the men made a video call and he recognised the voice of the man on the phone as the don.

He said: “When I heard the voice of the don I knew in my mind what this was all about.”

Mr Davy told the court the men took his suitcases and documents and forced him at gunpoint into the back of an SUV.

He said one of the men pulled a black cloth over his head and began to choke him.

Mr Davy added the men continued to choke and hit him for about 20 minutes as they drove him to another location, where he heard a garage door close.

He said he was pulled from the van and battered again, then taken to a basement and choked until he was unconscious.

Mr Davy added that after he came round one of the men told him that he was going to take a package with him to Bermuda, and put an object in a book inside his laptop case.

Mr Davy said the men told him to take the package out and tape it to his legs after he got through customs and drove him to Toronto’s Pearson International Airport in time for his flight.

Mr Davy told the court he passed Canadian customs, but when he was on the plane he considered leaving the package in the plane.

But he said he slid it down the back of his pants instead.

He added that when he was taken for a secondary search in Bermuda, he panicked.

Mr Davy said: “I was nervous. I was distressed. I was worried. Lots of thoughts were going through my mind. My family was on my mind.

“I was panicked and ran. I didn’t know what to do. I was terrified. I thought of killing myself.”

But Alan Richards, for the Crown, said Mr Davy’s story was a “film script” filled with lies.

Mr Davy told Mr Richards that he had $1,500 in US cash along with several hundred Canadian dollars in his wallet when he was abducted, but that none of the money was taken.

He also admitted he had accepted the job from the don in April, not February as he had testified earlier.

Mr Richards questioned how Mr Davy could be badly assaulted until he could barely stand and hours later was able outrun several Bermuda customs officers.

Detective Constable Jeffrey Blaire, the officer in charge of the case, told the court he was present when Mr Davy was strip-searched after his arrest.

He said Mr Davy had no scratches, bruises, open wounds or swelling and had not complained of pain or discomfort.

The trial continues.

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