The evidence of a convicted drugs importer who accuses six former narcotics officers of viciously beating him while in custody has been labelled as "arrant nonsense" by Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner.

This catastrophic blow to the prosecution's case came late yesterday afternoon, immediately prior to the acquittal of one of the six officers ? Det. Con. Allan Miguel ? who Mr. Warner ruled had no case to answer.

Drawing applause from the five other accused, the Senior Magistrate argued the evidence against Det. Con. Miguel was "inherently weak, unreliable and untenable", and that in his view the complainant Michael Madeiros was "simply not a reliable witness".

Despite this admission from the trial judge, however, the defence team of Allan Doughty, Larry Scott and Kenneth James decided against making further no case submissions on behalf of the other accused.

The defence will now open their case on July 11, after Mr. Warner acceded to a request for an extended adjournment to allow lead Crown counsel Carrington Mahoney to conclude his obligations in the Supreme Court murder trial of George Liburd.

However, the assault case itself is not likely to be finished any time soon, as a crucial defence witness ? forensic expert John Obafunwa ? will not now be available until the second week in August.

Meanwhile, after yet more scheduling confusion yesterday morning, the trial eventually resumed at 2.30 p.m to hear the Crown's last witness, overseas forensic expert Valerie Rao.

Dr. Rao ? who is employed part-time by the Bermuda Police Service ? said that the injuries shown on Madeiros in the photos she had examined were consistent with being "struck by a blunt instrument" and were not as a result of a tumble on tarmac.

It has been repeatedly suggested by the defence during their cross-examination of the Crown's witnesses that Madeiros was injured after falling while attempting to escape Police custody and in a subsequent struggle with those trying to restrain him.

Dr. Rao did concede, however, under cross-examination from Mr. Doughty, that she would have expected to have seen more extensive bruising on Madeiros body if he had been repeatedly kicked while lying prostrate in the ground.

Jamiko Tucker, 27, Kirley Mitchell, 31, Andrew Woolridge, 32, Antoine Fox, 37, and David Bhagwan, 30 are charged with assaulting former Dunkley's Dairy employee Madeiros, who is currently serving a ten-year sentence for conspiracy to import over $2 million worth of cannabis in October, 2003.