HONG KONG: An appeals court has banned a judge from hearing a divorce case amid concern he would be biased against the wife.
Justice John Saunders was removed after accepting the expatriate husband’s claim that he feared for his safety after his wife allegedly threatened to have him killed, the South China Morning Post said.
The Court of Appeal ruled there was “a real possibility of bias against the wife” by the judge. The appeal was brought by the wife, identified only as S, after the judge refused to remove himself from the case following an application by S.
The decision is the latest twist in the divorce battle between the pair which started in 2005 when S applied to divorce her husband, known only as L, after he refused to return to Hong Kong from a trip to London. The pair, married in 1987, have twin daughters.
A letter presented to the judge by solicitors for the husband alleged his wife had threatened to have him killed if he returned to Hong Kong.
Referring to this letter in a judgment on access rights by S to the twins, the judge said: “I do not consider that the father’s fear of physical injury, should he return to Hong Kong, is either irrational or a sign of mental instability.”
He added: “The fear may be described as being akin to a fear for personal safety held by someone married to a person of Italian extraction.” The judge apologised for use of “inappropriate language”.–DPA |
