A complaint was laid against Judge Emma Smith by a family concerned about her behaviour during a hearing into the terms of a parenting order over their daughter in 2010. Commissioner Sir David Gascoigne made a report in October, last year.
He said the complaint was not trivial, and "not frivolous, vexatious or made otherwise than in good faith".
Smith is quoted in the report as saying "I reject any improper behaviour by myself as alleged". She did, however, state that there were tense times during the hearing when all became frustrated, including her.
Sir David had concerns with a particular audio passage featuring Smith. "It is my opinion that what occurred during this part of the hearing was a shrill and unprofessional outburst on the judge's part.
This amounted to gross and gratuitous discourtesy to a professional witness who, on my assessment, maintained his own complete professionalism in the face of a distinctly challenging situation."
The commissioner also considered a claim of bias against Judge Smith, but found there was no conduct warranting his intervention.
He referred the matter to the "head of bench", chief district court judge Jan-Marie Doogue, saying there was a "significant and troublesome aspect of judicial conduct present".
A responding letter by Judge Doogue in March said had she known about personal difficulties Judge Smith was having at the time she may have required her to stand aside, and would be reminding judges to advise her if they were faced with undue personal pressures that might create inappropriate judicial behaviours in future.
"I can advise that the judge accepts on reflection that the witness experienced her questions, attitude and approach as disrespectful, unprofessional, excessive and debilitating.
"Whilst it is not an excuse, it is an explanation to say that the judge was enduring traumatic personal circumstances herself at the time."
Judge Smith had since sought and obtained professional assistance, regretted the circumstances and was genuinely apologetic for any and all distress caused, she said.
"As Head of Bench, however, I must be mindful that judges are human beings and sometimes subjected to unbearable pressure themselves."
The family who laid the original complaint have lodged another complaint to have Judge Smith seen as incapacitated in some way, and wanted to see her decision to allow unsupervised visits between their daughter and her birth father overturned. This is despite a 2011 appeal to the High Court being dismissed.
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Judge's outburst 'disturbing'
So many victims have experienced a judge's outburst. They should be disciplined accordingly.
ReplyDeleteYes, there should be a law that every hearing, etc that a Judge is over should have to be recorded no matter how small or short it may be. I think this would cut out some of the outburst by these Judges! I sat in a hearing in North Florida and the Judge told the man (the ward) that he would lock him up if he smiled again, the (ward) didn't even know what the Judge was talking about. So said these Judge start thinking their GOD!!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to swap stories about judges' emotional and overbearing remarks. Some really do appear stressed to the max, uncivil and confused; i.e. possibly incapacitated.
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