Rohan Cummings, the St James businessman who was arrested and charged in March last year after reportedly being held with US$850,000 ($130-million) worth of cocaine inside a bus he was driving, will have wait until April 28 for the resumption of his trial due to the judge’s unavailability.

Cummings, 55, of Berkshire, Westmoreland, and Cambridge, St James, was given the update on his case when he appeared in the St James Parish Court last Friday.

He had pleaded not guilty to possession of, dealing in, trafficking, and conspiracy to traffic 37.5 pounds of cocaine.

During the brief hearing, presiding Parish Judge Sasha-Marie Smith-Ashley told the court that the judge in charge of the case was unavoidably absent.

As a result, the new date was set for the part-heard case to continue, and Cummings’ bail was extended.

The allegations are that at 2:45 pm on March 7 last year Cummings was driving a Toyota Hiace bus on the Long Hill main road in St James when he was stopped by a police team. The bus was searched and the police said they found cocaine in the left-hand and right-hand panels of the vehicle.

When he was questioned about his knowledge of the items, Cummings reportedly said, “I didn’t know, boss, it’s the first I’m seeing them.”

He was asked if he had put them in the panel and he said, “No”.

Cummings also informed the cops that the bus belonged to a friend who operated a hardware store, and according to him, he had borrowed the bus in order to visit his granddaughter.

He was subsequently arrested and charged with breaches of the Dangerous Drugs Act.

In February this year Cummings’ trial was delayed after the clerk informed the court that she was unable to proceed because she was unable to make disclosure of some materials that the prosecution had received. She had also stated that she was handling the matter for the first time and would need guidance on how to proceed.