The preliminary inquiry into the discovery of 133 pounds of marijuana aboard the army flagship three months ago failed to commence yesterday since a decision has not been made in relation to the summary matters.

At the last hearing on August 12, the court heard that the matters were likely to be disposed of since new indictable charges were filed.

State counsels Simone Bullen and Paula Gilford from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), led a prosecution team at the hearing before Senior Magistrate Maxwell Edwards yesterday.

Defence counsel Vic Puran yesterday argued that the summary matters before the court must be disposed of for the hearing into the indictable charges to proceed. He reiterated that it would be unfair for the summary matters to be adjourned indefinitely since the prisoners are entitled to a trial within a reasonable period.

Bullen and Gilford told the court they would need a few days to respond to Puran’s argument. Bullen noted that summary matters must be decided upon before the indictable matters are heard. The matter is set to continue on August 29.

Ex-soldiers Shandy Stephens and Wayne Inniss were jointly charged on July 16 with conspiracy to traffic in narcotics. Inniss also faces a separate charge of trafficking in narcotics.

New charges were instituted against the duo on August 12 and these are to be tried indictably. The two appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Juliet Holder-Allen on August 12 to answer the new charges. They were not required to plead.

The court then heard that the ex-soldiers had current summary matters along with the new indictable charges. The office of the DPP had requested on that occasion that the summary matters be adjourned indefinitely. This was strongly contested by defence counsel.