Nowra detective's tardiness in preparing the prosecution cases against four men accused of running a large-scale drug ring between Sydney and the South Coast has cost taxpayers upwards of $15,000 and landed him with a "please explain" from everyone involved.
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Daniel Wayne Turner, from Sanctuary Point, Vincentia's Graeme Anthony McGilvray and Yallah man Anthony Bojlevski, together with Mitchell Francesco Franco, were charged with multiple drugs offences stemming from allegations they were part of a wide-scale criminal group responsible for distributing bulk amounts of methylamphetamine throughout the Illawarra, the South Coast, and in some parts of Sydney in 2013 and 2014.
The police operation that saw the men arrested was led by officers from the Shoalhaven LAC's criminal investigation unit, with the officer in charge (OIC) identified in court papers as Detective Michael Nunn.
One of the primary roles of an OIC is gathering all the evidence police and the prosecution will rely on to prove their case.
The information, referred to as a brief of evidence, can include witness statements, post-mortem results, reports from experts such as doctors and psychologists, drug analysis certificates and more.
Once it is completed, a copy of the brief is given to defence lawyers to show what evidence is being proposed to use against their clients.
In Port Kembla Local Court on Wednesday, prosecutors withdrew all charges against Mr Franco, before advising lawyers for the remaining accused that their cases had stalled once again.
Steven Boland, acting for McGilvray, said he'd never before experienced such a delay.
He said the information he'd received so far was "in complete disarray", describing it as "one of the worst briefs I have ever seen".
He claimed the police statement of facts - a document that sets out a basic overview of the alleged conduct that led to the charges - failed to even mention 17 of the 27 offences his client had been charged with.
He noted Detective Nunn had recently been ordered to attend court if the brief was not served, and had failed to turn up.
Fellow counsel, Jane Healey, said the brief against Bojlevski was also "completely inadequate".
She told the court she had been informed that Detective Nunn was due to have a meeting about the matter with a representative from the Director of Public Prosecutions in the near future.
Ms Healey and Mr Boland applied for the prosecution to pay their clients' legal fees for the day, given it was not ready to move forward with the case.
The request was granted, with Magistrate Michael Stoddart awarding a combined $15,000 to cover preparation time and the court appearance fees of both lawyers.
It is the second time taxpayer dollars have had to cover legal fees in the cases, with Magistrate Stoddart also awarding costs to the defence on a previous occasion due to delay.
The cases of the three remaining defendants will return to court at a later date.
