The Crown unveiled further evidence in Magistrates' Court yesterday that the convicted drugs importer who claims to have been beaten by Police was sporting extensive injuries while in custody in late October 2003.

Six former narcotics officers, Jamiko Tucker, 27, Allan Miguel, 40, Kirley Mitchell, 31, Andrew Woolridge, 32, Antoine Fox, 37, David Bhagwan, 30 are charged with assaulting former Dunkley's Dairy employee Michael Madeiros, who is currently serving a 10-year sentence for conspiracy to import over two million dollars worth of cannabis.

Lawyer Mark Pettingill, who represented Madeiros in his Supreme Court drugs trial in February, testified that when he first met his client on October 26 at Hamilton Police Station, he had swelling to the left side of his face, the beginnings of a black eye and red marks on the lower left hand side of his back.

Mr. Pettingill also revealed that when Madeiros was released from custody the following day, he met with him at his office the law firm Wakefield Quinn.

"Mr. Madeiros dropped his trousers and showed me his buttocks," Mr. Pettingill began.

"There was extensive black and blue bruising on one side in particular. The injuries to his eye, neck, and back by that stage were more pronounced while his cheek was even more swollen."

One of the most crucial points the Crown has been seeking to prove since the trial began on Monday is that Madeiros was not injured on the day of his arrest on October 24 and the bruising must therefore have been sustained while in custody.

The defence, by contrast, does not appear to have a consistent take on the reasons for the injuries. Over the course of the trial's five days, they have suggested that Madeiros both tripped and fell while attempting to escape Police custody and that he was involved in a fight with his wife and her alleged lover on the day he was released.

Madeiros' wife Lisa has already said that when her husband left for work at 7.30 a.m on October 24, he was injury-free.

And to illustrate the point yet further, Crown counsels Carrington Mahoney and Oonagh Vaucrosson called on the testimony of Nicholas Wallington, the owner of C&N Construction and the brother of the complainants wife.

Mr. Wallington said he had seen Madeiros at around lunchtime on the day of his arrest - only a few hours before he was confronted by narcotics officers at the Paget Ice Queen - and that he had seen no bruises or marks on him.

But under cross examination from defence lawyer Allan Doughty, Mr. Wallington admitted he would not have been able to see whether Madeiros was bruised about his body because he was fully clothed.

The rest of yesterday was taken up with yet more legal arguments, centred on the availability of overseas forensic pathologist Valerie Rao.

Dr. Rao is currently at home in Florida where she is expected to testify in another case in that jurisdiction, and she will not be available until Thursday of next week. The Crown asked if the trial could be adjourned until then - a request objected to by the defence who said their client's were anxious for proceedings to be concluded so that they "could get on with their lives". Clearly irritated by the proposed delay, Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner ordered that the defence open its case on Monday morning, and stated Ms Rao would then be accommodated when she was on the Island.

Ms Rao, who is used by the Bermuda Police Service as an expert and often gives evidence in Bermuda, is expected to suggest that the injuries sustained by Madeiros could not have been as a result of a fall but were consistent only with a beating of some kind.

The testimony of Dr. Rao in Madeiros' Supreme Court drugs trial was one of the principle reasons why all the Police evidence was thrown out in that case by Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves.