A Jamaican cruise ship worker charged with importing cocaine to Bermuda last April was discharged yesterday after spending 18 months in custody waiting for the start of his Supreme Court trial.

Fitzroy George Hamilton had denied importing 996 grams of cocaine and possession with intent to the drug in April, 2003 on board the .

Director of Public Prosecutions Vinette Graham-Allen told Puisne Judge Ian Kawaley that prosecution lawyers could not locate two crucial witnesses necessary to allow the case to proceed to trial. The witnesses, according to Mrs. Graham-Allen, were on board a cruise ship in an unknown location.

Police in charge of the case were also off the Island on holiday, and Mrs. Graham-Allen said the DPP?s office was short staffed.

She also told the court that all of the witnesses were available to give testimony in the trial on November 15, however, another Supreme Court trial went on longer than expected, further delaying the start of the trial.

As members of the public who had been empanelled for a jury watched the proceedings, Mrs. Graham-Allen filed ?a nolle prosequi? which allows prosecution lawyers to inform the Supreme Court that they preferred to drop the indictment once the permission of the court is granted.

The prosecution lawyers have up to a year to bring the charges back before the court.

Mr. Justice Kawaley accepted Mrs. Graham-Allen?s request, telling Hamilton: ?In the future I hope that your contact with Bermuda will be on more positive terms.?

He then told Mrs. Graham-Allen he often bent over backwards to accommodate lawyers and told the court that rescheduling matters must be taken seriously by all officers of the court.

Mr. Justice Kawaley also stated that the costs of accommodating overseas prisoners in Bermuda was ?quite prohibitive?.

The DPP?s office is also on a drive to recruit more lawyers, according to Mrs. Graham-Allen, who said she was put in the ?embarrassing position? of not having any counsel to deal with the case.

Victoria Pearman, representing Hamilton, said the matter had ?reached the stage of abuse of the process of the courts? since her client had been in custody for 18 months and the case had repeatedly been adjourned since November 2.

Ms Pearman had been representing a man accused of exposing a woman to HIV ? the case went on several days longer than expected, leaving the Hamilton trial pushed back another week.

In past reviews of the Justice system, Chief Justice Richard Ground predicted it would take a year to clear the backlog of cases in the Supreme Court.

During public speaking engagements Mr. Ground has said increased staffing and new procedures were tackling the problem but a third criminal Supreme Court was needed.