Former Kenyan judge loses CJ position

A former Kenyan High Court judge was last Thursday dismissed as the Chief Justice of Gibraltar because of disreputable behaviour.

Mr Justice Derek Schofield removal from Gibraltar’s top judicial position was contained in a brief statement released from The Convent.

“Acting on the advice received from Gibraltar’s Judicial Service Commission, The Governor, Sir Adrian Johns, on Tuesday carried out the removal by means of dismissal of Mr Justice Schofield from the office of Chief Justice,” said the statement.

The decision by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council was reached by the narrowest of margins: while four judges said the Chief Justice should be sacked, the other three found there were no grounds to justify dismissal.

Schofield who served as a High Court judge in Kenya in the 1980s was accused of bringing his office into disrepute.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Nation, the former chief justice said the Privy Council majority decision lacked in perspective and detachment.

“A lot of people in Gibraltar have expressed great concerns on the decision, the ICJ Kenya chapter who observed the proceedings have already expressed it concern,” said the former CJ who is currently in Kenya on official engagements.

“I’m considering whether to go to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, France,” said judge Schofield who left Kenya under controversial circumstances in 1987 after handling a high-profile case in which the family of former rally driver Stephen Mbaraka Karanja sought to have the police to produce him in court.