Hong Kong justice chiefs have suspended a lawyer who admitted being ”drunk as a monkey” after his giggling and mumbling caused the adjournment of a court case, an official statement said on Tuesday.
Roderick Murray clapped, put on his sunglasses, drummed his fingers on his desk and laughed during the District Court case of seven defendants charged over millions of dollars in unpaid cigarette duty.
The British-born prosecuting counsel was repeatedly reprimanded by Judge Chua Fi-lan, who later described his behaviour as ”bizarre”.
With news of his antics spread over the front pages of newspapers in Hong Kong, the city’s department of justice said it has decided to suspended him.
”Mr Murray has been suspended from out fiat [official] lists pending an investigation,” a statement said, adding that it has called on Murray to explain himself.
The city’s leading prosecution lawyer, Grenville Cross, apologised to Chua for the incident, it said.
Chua was forced to halt the case for 10 minutes while a court officer spoke to Murray.
Murray, who arrived at the morning hearing 40 minutes late and ”smelled strongly of alcohol” at the afternoon session, according to the South China Morning Post, taunted legal chiefs in the Chinese territory to take action.
”You have to hear a lot of bullshit in court,” he told the Post after the hearing, adding that he had downed ”two dry martinis and a couple of beers” during a long lunch at a posh hotel bar.
”I think I should be reported to the Bar Association. But nobody is going strike me off.”
The departmental statement, however, said it has referred the case to the Bar Association.
The defendants were jailed for terms of between six weeks and two years and 10 months, the newspaper said. — Sapa-AFP