Coroner has no power to punish anyone who disrespects court, says lawyer

 

Lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan was appearing for former AG Tommy Thomas to set aside a High Court ruling that the coroner’s court had jurisdiction to hear a contempt of court case against him.

PUTRAJAYA: A coroner has no jurisdiction to punish anyone who shows alleged disrespect to the court, the Court of Appeal heard today.

Lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan said only the superior courts – the High Court, Court of Appeal and the Federal Court – had such powers, as provided under the Federal Constitution and the Court of Judicature Act.

She said Article 126 and Section 13 of the Act state that the three courts “shall have power to punish any contempt of itself”.

Ambiga said that under the Criminal Procedure Code, there was a distinction when it came to a court, an inquiry and a judicial proceeding.

“Our argument is that an inquiry before a coroner is not equivalent to a court proceeding,” she said in her oral submission before a three-member bench conducted virtually.

She is appearing for former attorney-general Tommy Thomas to set aside a High Court ruling that the coroner’s court had jurisdiction to hear a contempt of court case against him (Thomas).

Fireman Muhammad Adib’s father, Mohd Kassim Abdul Hamid, had filed an ex parte application for a committal order against Thomas for allegedly insulting the court through the filing of an affidavit by the attorney-general’s chambers on April 3, 2019, which indicated that his son’s death was not due to injuries caused by someone.

He also accused Thomas of committing contempt by issuing a media statement on May 28, 2019 while the inquest into Adib’s death was under way.

Coroner Rofiah Mohamed allowed the contempt to commence after studying the documents and affidavits submitted by both parties, saying Kassim had proven a prima facie case against Thomas.

On Jan 28 last year, then judicial commissioner Meor Hashimi Abdul Hamid said the coroner’s court had jurisdiction to grant leave to initiate committal proceedings against Thomas.

However, the coroner did not find Thomas guilty of contempt due to non-disclosure of material facts by Kassim.

Ambiga also submitted today before the bench, chaired by Suraya Othman, that should the court rule that the coroner had the power to punish a contemnor, then it should be restricted to showing any disrespect in the courtroom itself.

“One can then be punished for contempt for things like throwing a shoe in the courtroom,” she said.

Proceedings were adjourned as the bench and lawyers could not hear clearly what lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla, who represented Kassim, had to say.

This was despite a break given to enable the lawyer to rectify the Wi-Fi at his office.

Suraya, who sat with Abu Bakar Jais and Hashim Hamzah, said they would want to hear Haniff making his oral submission as the jurisdiction issue was being raised for the first time.

A case management has been fixed on Aug 18 and the appeal hearing date would be fixed after Haniff had conducted a test run of his communication system together with the court registry.

On Sept 27, 2019, Rofiah had ruled that “more than two unidentified persons” had killed Adib, who died after succumbing to injuries he sustained after being sent to the scene of a riot outside the Sri Maha Mariamman temple.

Adib, 24, a member of the Subang Jaya Fire and Rescue Department, was seriously injured in the riot at the temple in USJ 25, Subang Jaya, on Nov 27, 2018 and died on Dec 17 the same year at the National Heart Institute. - FMT