News In Focus
9 February 2009
Sheriff criticised for Zimbabwe remarks
Complaints have been made about a Dundee-based sheriff’s remarks after he allegedly compared a mother's behaviour in a child contact case to that of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
Sheriff Richard Davidson was dealing with Tina Monem for repeatedly failing to allow her former partner contact with their child, in defiance of court orders.
Sheriff Davidson said that Ms Monem should look to Zimbabwe to see what happened when the rule of law was repeatedly undermined by government, and that if he allowed her to continue to defy the court, others would do likewise "and before long we will have anarchy".
It is understood that Ms Monem, who is representing herself after dismissing successive legal teams, was eventually jailed for contempt of court but freed pending an appeal.
Ms Monem, who is of mixed race, said she was deeply humiliated by the remarks, which were made last year. The Scottish Government's legal division, responding to her complaint, did not regard the remarks as racial, but referred the case to the Sheriff Principal of Tayside, Central and Fife.
Human rights lawyer John Scott said the case highlighted the need for Scotland’s judiciary to be more accountable and that very few people deserved to be compared directly to Robert Mugabe.
The Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008 recently conferred new powers on the Lord President to set up rules for dealing with instances of alleged judicial misconduct. It is estimated that around 180 complaints are made each year about the Scottish judiciary, though many of these relate to the actual decision in a case.