teenager Rebecca Middleton were stayed in the Supreme Court yesterday.

Chief Justice Austin Ward ordered the stay on the 1998 indictment charging both Kirk Mundy and Justis Smith with murder until the Court of Appeal releases its written judgment on the matter.

Last week, the Court of Appeal ruled Mundy would not have to face a charge of murdering Canadian teenager Rebecca Middleton.

Appeals Court Judge Edward Zacca delivered the decision which said: "The decision of the court is that we find that the court below was in error in exercising its discretion to allow the proceedings to continue.

"We allow the appeal and vacate the order of the court below. We order that the Attorney General be prohibited from proceeding with the indictment for murder as against Kirk Mundy.'' The complete reasons for the decision will be revealed in full in the next couple of weeks.

But Crown counsel Brian Calhoun yesterday said that the wording was "ambiguous'' and appeared to only deal with the ruling by Puisne Judge Richard Ground.

Mr. Calhoun said the Appeals Court did not make it clear if their ruling applied to the voluntary bill of indictment against Mundy filed after defence lawyer Saul Froomkin launched his appeal of Mr. Justice Ground's decision to try Mundy for murder.

And he said the Attorney General's Chambers would appeal the Court of Appeal's ruling to the Privy Counsel in London.

Mr. Froomkin said the Attorney General should have been present in court to explain his stance and argued the Crown was prohibited from proceeding on the murder charge by the Appeals Court's ruling.

Murder case put on hold "The Attorney General cannot flout the Court of Appeal,'' he said.

Mundy is currently serving a total of 21 years in prison. He was sentenced to five years after pleading guilty to being an accessory after the fact to the murder of Rebecca Middleton.

Mundy had originally agreed to testify against Smith, 18, who was charged with murder soon after the killing of 17-year-old Ms Middleton at Ferry Reach, St.

George's, in July, 1996.

Smith's lawyer Archibald Warner said two injustices had been committed against his client.

"He has been in custody since July, 1996,'' he said. "And my client is not even sure what case he has to meet. There are two indictments against him.

That is the second injustice.

"It is simply not right to keep my client waiting,'' he added, urging Mr.

Justice Ward to maintain the May 26 trial date set for Smith.

Mr. Warner's call was echoed by Mr. Froomkin.

"It may be an inconvenience for the Crown to have two trials but we can't stand in the way of justice,'' he said.

But Mr. Calhoun argued that both men had to stand trial together.

"We want to proceed jointly,'' he said. "It would be a farce not to try them together.'' Mr. Calhoun requested an adjournment until the full judgment was handed down from the Court of Appeal.