Lawyer Alfred Dodwell apologises for "misleading" allegations against Supreme Court
Ng Huiwen, Straits Times, Published May 30, 2016, 8:53 pm SGT, Updated May 30, 2016, 11:06 pm
SINGAPORE - Lawyer Alfred Dodwell issued a written letter of apology to the Supreme Court on Monday (May 30) for "baseless" allegations he made against the court following the execution of convicted murderer Jabing Kho.
He did so after the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) pointed out to him that certain allegations he had made were in contempt of court and entirely untrue, an AGC spokesman said.
On May 21, the lawyer of boutique law firm Dodwell & Co LLC had written on his personal Facebook page:
"If we invoke the supreme law of the land, the courts should not wave it away to hurry toward execution.
"It's a pity that we have the DPP (Deputy Public Prosecutor) saying so and the judges saying so."
He also wrote:
"Same judge sitting on most of the hearing and a challenge to his own ruling is mounted and expecting a different result is never gonna happen."
The day before, Kho, a Malaysian, had been executed for bludgeoning construction worker Cao Ruyin with a tree branch while robbing him in 2008. Cao's skull was shattered and he died six days later.
Mr Dodwell was among the three lawyers who had launched multiple last-minute appeals in a bid to delay Kho's execution.
On the morning of the execution, the apex court had heard arguments from Mr Dodwell as well as lawyer Jeanette Chong-Aruldoss, who both filed a civil application against Kho's death sentence, which was a criminal matter.
When the lawyers sought an adjournment, saying that they were not prepared to argue, they were chided by the court, which then dismissed the applications.
Judge of Appeal Chao Hick Tin called the lawyers' actions "an abuse of the process of the court".
In his letter to Supreme Court Registrar Vincent Hoong on Monday,
Mr Dodwell said he accepted that the allegations made in his Facebook post were "completely baseless and misleading, and in contempt of court".
He added:
"I also accept that the allegations did not constitute fair criticism, and have scandalised the court."
He withdrew the allegations and apologised "unreservedly" to Judges of Appeal Chao Hick Tin and Andrew Phang Boon Long as well as the other judges of the Supreme Court.
The allegations made on his Facebook page, social media accounts, and all documents in his possession had also been deleted, he added.
The apology letter has been made public on his Facebook page.
"Contempt of court is a serious offence which undermines the administration of justice," the AGC spokesman said. "It is an even more serious transgression when it emanates from an officer of the court, a practising lawyer."
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Read more here:
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE
Civil Appeal No 73 of 2016 Between KHO JABING And ATTORNEY-GENERAL
EX-TEMPORE JUDGMENT
[Res judicata] — [Abuse of process]
[Constitutional Law] — [Equality before the law]
[Constitutional Law] — [Fundamental liberties] — [Protection against
retrospective criminal laws] — [Right to life and personal liberty]
Original Document Source - Supreme Court
Google Drive Backup source
Channel News Asia - 'Legal opportunism prevailed' in Kho Jabing case: AGC
The Attorney-General's Chambers reiterates that the actions of Kho Jabing’s three lawyers amounted to an abuse of court processes.
Convicted murderer Kho Jabing is due to be executed at 4.30pm on
Friday (May 20) according to the Malaysian High Commission, ending eight
years of legal drama which saw the Malaysian escape the gallows twice
at the eleventh-hour. He was previously scheduled to be hanged on
Friday morning. But this was put off following a last minute appeal that
was filed on Thursday night and heard and subsequently dismissed the
next morning.
TODAY - Stay of execution for Sarawak man on death row: Timeline of the case
Straits Times - Convicted murderer Jabing Kho to hang after failing in bid to commute death sentence
In 2008, Kho, 31, who is from Sarawak, bludgeoned Chinese national Cao
Ruyin, 40, with a tree branch while robbing him, together with an
accomplice. Mr Cao died of head injuries six days later.
The Middle Ground - The last 24 hours of Kho Jabing’s life
The appeal was dismissed, and the judges were unimpressed with Kho’s lawyers.
“You knew very well the execution was to have taken place last year,”
said Judge of Appeal Chao Hick Tin to Ms Chong-Aruldoss and Mr Dodwell.
In the first hearing today, he stated:
“We said that there comes a point, after the appeals have been heard
and the applications for reviews have been decided, when the legal
process must recede into the background and give way to the search for
repose. “We think the time has come.”
