Human smuggling trial delayed in St. Stephen

A New Brunswick judge has postponed ahuman smuggling trial that was set to start on Monday involving four people so one of the accused individuals could apply for legal aid.

The trial of Savita Singh, 44, of St. Stephen, Vaughn McLuskey, 72, of Fredericton, Mohammed Habib-Yusef, 54 and Ravindra Hariprasad, 37, was supposed to begin in a St. Stephen, N.B., court on Monday.

All four individuals were arrested in May 2009. While Singh and McLuskey were arrested in New Brunswick, Habib-Yusef and Hariprasad were both arrested in Toronto.

Investigators say the accused were trying to get two migrants from Guyana into the United States by smuggling them across the border near St. Stephen.

On Monday morning the case was adjourned until March 21 to give one Hariprasad time to apply for legal aid.

Judge William McCarroll said it would be unfair to proceed with the trial without all four individuals being represented by a lawyer.