I REFER to the report on the judge who slept through a trial in Australia (”Retrial as judge dozes off” — NST, Nov 7).

In ordering the retrial of the drug trafficking case, the High Court found that the judge repeatedly fell asleep. The judge’s sleeping spells grew longer as the trial progressed, much to the distraction and amusement of the jury.

When a similar situation occurred in the Liverpool Crown Court in 1997, the British Court of Appeal, in dismissing the appeal, held that a sleeping judge was no bar to a fair trial as the accused had failed to identify at which parts of the trial the judge had fallen asleep.

Such incidents must have been prevalent in the 19th century as evident from Charles Dickens’ novels. It must be remembered that Dickens was not only a literary celebrity of his time but was also regarded as “an influential spokesman of the conscience of his age”.

He regaled readers with an account of a judge who would doze off when the court was in session while maintaining the impression that he was deep in thought.

Another judge sated his craving for drink by accidently dropping his gavel during proceedings. He would bend down and, under the pretext of retrieving the gavel, drank wine which had been placed on the shelf before the court started.

While such stories are humorous, judges sleeping on the job should not be taken lightly.

S. SUNDARESON, Petaling Jaya

Source: NST – November 14, 2008