Hertulars denied bail, will soon go to trial

Brothers Robert and Adrian Hertular were hoping that they would walk out of the courtroom on bail this morning when they appeared for a preliminary inquiry before Chief Magistrate Herbert Lord. Much to their displeasure…it didn’t happen. Lord told the Hertulars, in the presence of their attorney Simeon Sampson, that an earlier decision by the Chief Justice denying bail could not be overruled. He also announced that, at the instruction of the D.P.P., the preliminary inquiry will be dropped and instead the drug trafficking case will go to summary trial in Magistrate’s Court on June twenty-second. Lawyer Sampson asked for an earlier date and Magistrate Lord said he would oblige, subject to discussion. Robert and Adrian Hertular have been charged in connection with the discovery of two thousand, five hundred and fifty-four pounds of cocaine on May ninth, the third largest drug bust in Belizean history. Attorney Fred Lumor has been hired to present the prosecution’s case.