T.O. PALS STAND BY JAILED COKE COURIERS

Little Hope For Mercy: Bermuda Lawyer

Two Toronto mothers convicted of importing drugs into Bermuda and sentenced
to long prison terms this week are "good women," according to shocked
friends, who say they'll stand by their pals.

But the Bermudan lawyer who represented Toni Downing and Donnette Reid said
the courts in his country have no sympathy for drug smugglers. And he said
the case should serve as a warning to others.

"You can't bring drugs into Bermuda," said Mark Pettingill, who is also an
appointed senator in the island country of 60,000.

Downing, 33, of Scarborough and Reid, 34, of Toronto pleaded guilty earlier
this month to importing drugs with intent to supply. This week Downing got
10 years in jail and Reid got 12.

Both women are single parents. Reid is the mother of Tristan, 3. Downing's
son, Tabius, is nine.

Downing made a tearful plea for clemency at her sentencing hearing, asking
that she be allowed to serve her sentence in Canada so she could be closer
to her son, for whom she had recently won a fierce custody battle.

But Pettingill, in Toronto for a friend's wedding, said Bermuda courts are
not "sympathetic to a person's life situation."

"You could be dying of AIDS or cancer and you're going to get 10 years or
more. It does depend on the amount (smuggled) though," he said.

He said word should go out to Canadians or others who would be "duped by
drug importers, don't be fooled ... If you import cocaine or other drugs you
are going to go to jail -- no ifs, ands or buts."

Downing, an administrative assistant at the Royal Bank, and Reid, a
hairdresser, pleaded guilty to smuggling 2.13 kilos of cocaine in six
bottles of rum. The drugs had a street value of $1.2 million.

Neither woman could afford a lawyer. Pettingill represented one for free and
the other under Bermuda's legal aid. He said there's no basis for an appeal
of either sentence. Pettingill said the court accepted Downing was "wilfully
blind" to the illegal act -- she suspected the bottles might contain
contraband but chose not to know.

'NOT DRUGGY'

Sheila, 31, assistant manager of a T.O. store who asked that her last name
not be used, says her friends are "not druggy people.

"These are good women and it tears me apart," said a tearful Sheila, who
would like to see the women returned to Canada to serve their sentences.

Pettingill said the two will serve about two-thirds of their sentences. It's
too early to apply for them to be able to serve their sentences in Canada,
he said.