Australian national Ethan Kai will reappear in the High Court in Lautoka next Tuesday for a pre-trial conference (PTC).
Kai was charged with a count of unlawful importation of illicit drugs and jailed for 15 years for importing $30million worth of heroin in 2014.
Appearing in the High Court in Lautoka before Justice Sunil Sharma, Kai was represented by lawyers Mark Anthony and Robert Bancod of Millbrook Hills Law Partners while Director of Public Prosecutions prosecutor Sheenal Swastika represented the State.
Ms Swastika informed Justice Sharma both parties had finalised their PTC checklists and were preparing for the trial.
She said the defence lawyers had made representations to her and the file was sent to the DPP for sanction.
“Before coming to court, I did call and check as to any decision being made on the file and nothing has been made,” Ms Swastika said.
“In the background we are ready for trial. However, I ask if we could do the PTC hearing next week Tuesday after a substantive decision has been made.
“I’m ready with my written case theory, however, I would rather have my file here.”
Ms Swastika also informed the court she has yet to disclose and file CCTV footage.
She said there were a lot of discs and that she was in the process of preparing the copies.
Ms Swastika said they had listed 25 State witnesses in the PTC checklist, however, this number would be reduced.
Mr Anthony confirmed the representations made by the State prosecutor in court yesterday.
He said they had also made further representations to the State regarding the charges against his client.
He said they had written to the State for an inspection of the illicit drugs that were in custody and a fresh analysis could be conducted on the illicit drugs because it had been 10 years.
Mr Anthony said some of the photographic disclosures were not clear and their client had instructed them to make a physical inspection of certain exhibits.
In response, Ms Swastika said the illicit drugs were kept under police custody in Suva and that a re-analysis of the drugs would have no relevance at this point.
She said the only items available were the drugs and arrangements could be made to the police for the defence to view the 29.9kilograms of heroin before the trial.
Meanwhile, in another submission, Mr Anthony said the absence of the first accused, Mohammed Khan, who was acquitted by the High Court in Lautoka in October, 2015, was a concern in this matter.
He said they had addressed it in detail on their representation and submissions to the DPP in the absence of the first accused who was away overseas.
The matter will be called today for mention.
