Institutional delays are being blamed for a stay of proceedings against a Port Moody man accused of importing a large amount of opium in the fall of 2009.
In March, The Tri-City News reported that Azad Yousefi's trial had been adjourned but no reason for the decision was given at the time by the Crown prosecutors office.
But according to court documents released to the public last week, Port Coquitlam provincial court Judge Pedro de Couto blamed a lack of resources for a 30-month delay in the proceedings.
"It seems to me that the matter has not proceeded within reasonable time as it otherwise could have been were it not for institutional delay," he said in his ruling. "I am fully aware in so deciding of the concern being raised by the public and by the government with respect to criticism of our courts lately but again those factors cannot and do not override the accused's Charter rights."
Yousefi was arrested in September 2009 and the matter was confirmed in court two months later. All of the parties were ready to proceed in December 2010 but the Crown asked for a delay in proceedings in order to accommodate a police witness who was hospitalized with back problems.
The trial was rescheduled for Oct. 24, 2011 and further delays pushed the proceedings back to March 2012, more than two and a half years after the arrest.
"It was not because counsel were not available but it was solely because the court time was not there and that court time was not there because of a lack of resources," de Couto stated in his ruling.
In 2009, local police were alerted by the Canadian Border Services Agency that opium was being shipped in the lining of a suitcase to Port Moody from an address in Istanbul. Investigators took samples of the drugs before putting the suitcases back into the postal system. Undercover police officers monitored the pickup of the package and arrested Yousefi a short time later.
The opium seized at the time of the arrest had a street value of more than $500,000 and was the largest seizure of the drug in Port Moody's history.
Yousefi pleaded not guilty to the charges of importing a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking when his trial started in October 2011.
