The State expects to call more than 400 witnesses in the trial of four Englishmen charged in connection with the biggest cocaine seizure in the history of the State, a court was told yesterday.
Tom Creed SC, prosecuting, said gardaí had already provided 383 witness statements from the book of evidence to defence teams representing Perry Wharrie (47), Gerard Hagan (23), Martin Wanden (44) and Joe Daly (40).
Mr Wharrie, Pyrles Lane, Loughton, Essex; Mr Hagan, from Hollowcroft, Liverpool; Mr Wanden, no fixed abode, and Mr Daly, Carrisbrooke Avenue, Bexley, Kent, each face three charges arising from the discovery of €108 million worth of cocaine off Mizen Head in west Cork.
All four accused are charged with possessing cocaine, possessing cocaine for sale or supply and possessing more than €13,000 worth of cocaine for sale or supply at Dunlough Bay, Mizen Head, on July 2nd, 2007.
Mr Creed told Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday that the overwhelming majority of witness statements in the State's case against the four had been handed over and that only 30 statements from extra-jurisdictional witnesses remained to be handed over.
These remaining 30 statements would be handed over as soon as they became available, said Mr Creed.
He added that fixing a date for mention in the next term would enable the State to assess the situation with regard to how much material remained to be handed over.
Mr Creed told Judge Patrick Moran that he did not believe that the State would be in a position to proceed next term and that it was more likely to be able to proceed at the criminal sessions after that commencing in April 2008 with the trial likely to last several weeks.
Legal teams for all four accused agreed to have the matter adjourned until next term to fix a date for the hearing and Judge Moran adjourned the matter until February 4th for mention with a view to the trial proceeding in April.
Judge Moran also made an order directing the prosecution to make more than 30 hours of video-taped interviews of each accused available to each defendant while he adjourned a bail application made by James O'Mahony SC on behalf of Mr Hagan until December 20th.
