Spanish prosecutors want to keep Philip Halliday in jail for another two years without a trial.
Halliday of Digby and nine others were in a Madrid courtroom today for a hearing into drug trafficking charges that are almost two years old.
Halliday had believed either a trail date would be set today or he would be released. Many in Digby were hoping Halliday might be home for Christmas this year.
Instead he and his family will have to wait another two to three weeks to hear the judges’ decision.
Halliday was the first mate on the Destiny Empress when Spanish authorities boarded the ship just off the Spanish coast on Dec. 21, 2009 and found 1.5 metric tons of cocaine. Halliday has maintained he believed they were delivering an empty ship to buyers in Europe and he did not know the drugs were aboard.
Seven of the accused were arrested on the Destiny Empress with Halliday; the other two in court were arrested on land elsewhere in Spain.
Halliday, suffering from gall blader, liver and kidney problems, has been held in Spanish prison without a trial for the last two years.
Sheree Halliday spoke to her husband on the phone for five minutes today after the hearing.
She said Philip was totally frustrated.
Philip and the rest of the accused sat on the other side of the room from the lawyers and had no chance to talk with his counsel before the hearing. He was allowed to address the judges but he told Sheree the interpreter did a “lousy job” of translating.
For example when he said “I have worked hard my whole life since I was 17” she translated that as “I have been working since 1970.”
Sheree said she had a million more questions for Philip today that she couldn’t ask in just five minutes. So she called the Canadian embassy and they are working on getting her some answers.
She said embassy workers were at first refused access to the hearings but pressed for it and were able to attend.
“They are trying,” said Sheree. “I have no problem with them.”
Sheree says she hopes she gets enough information from the embassy that she and Philip don’t have to spend the whole five minutes tomorrow talking about the court proceedings.
“We do have more important things to talk about,” she says.
jriley@digbycourier.ca
