The lawyer representing accused killer Kirk Mundy has filed an official motion for a fresh charge against his client to be dropped.

Mark Pettingill made the appeal to Senior Magistrate Will Francis yesterday afternoon after the Attorney General charged Mundy along with co-defendant Justis Smith with the murder of Canadian teenager Rebecca Middleton.

Mundy, 22, is already serving a five-year prison term after pleading guilty to being an accessory to the murder, which took place in July 1996.

He was expected to give evidence against Smith at his trial next month.

The prohibition order means that all preliminary proceedings in Magistrates' Court will be held over until a hearing in the Supreme Court. That could be held later this week.

"The summons will bring the Attorney General to court along with ourselves and also possibly Smith's lawyer Archie Warner,'' Mr. Pettingill said.

"What we have done is we are seeking the issue of a prerogative writ where you issue a summons to have a judicial review. The Supreme Court will then review what's going on to see if it's unfair or unjust. Our position is that what the Attorney General has attempted to do is an abuse of process in that it should not be done this way.

"The constitution says that you have to have a fair trial in a reasonable amount of time. But it's impossible to have a fair trial. They put forward a number of facts which they accepted and we went along and pleaded guilty. It's a principle of law that's embodied in the constitution and that's why we are going to the Supreme Court.

"But the Attorney General has now completely moved the goal posts. If you want to draw an analogy it's like someone going on trial for murder and being acquitted and then 18 months later the prosecution say they are going to charge them again. This case is in the same spirit as that.

"The summons has asked for an order of certiorari quashing the order of the Attorney General in laying information and prohibiting further proceedings.

"The Attorney General has made a mess of this and it's nothing less than scandalous. It's been dealt with very sloppily from the outset and now they are trying to have a second bite of the cherry.'' Despite Mr. Pettingill's attempt to get the charge quashed it is understood that Attorney General Elliot Mottley could proceed with a direct indictment, allowing him to go ahead with the prosecution.