A Judge in Canada is encountering judicial review for saying that a Nigerian doctor who served as a witness in a court case was “compromised” by bad speech and unacceptable grammar.
In 2019, Justice Terry Clackson presided over a parental neglect case leveled against a couple, David and Collet Stephan. The couple was accused of not providing prompt medical care to their late son.
Clackson dismissed the charges against the couple and said that Bamidele Adeagbo, a Nigerian-born medical examiner who testified exhibited “movements, body language and physical antics that were not the behaviours usually associated with a rational, impartial professional imparting opinion evidence.”
He further wrote that the ability of Dr. Adeagbo to communicate was “severely compromised by garbled enunciation; failure to use appropriate endings for plurals and past tenses; his failure to use definite and indefinite articles properly, and repeated emphasis of the wrong syllables: dropping his Hs, mispronouncing his vowels, and the speed of his responses.”
The court ruling was appealed, and a racial bias complaint was brought against the judge in 2019 but Canadian Judicial Council shelved the racial bias complaint.
The Alberta Court of Appeal recently ordered a new trial in a decision which concluded that Justice Clackson’s comments about Dr. Adeagbo were not appropriate and exhibited bias.
Johanna Laporte, Director of communications for the Canadian Judicial Council, a Council which investigates complaints against judges, disclosed that the complaint against the judge was deferred during the appeal.
The case has now been assigned to a member of the council’s judicial conduct committee, a committe that comprises judges, who will review it and determine what happens next.
While briefing a Canadian news outlet Johanna wrote: “I can assure you that it is in both the public interest and in the interest of the judge to deal with this matter expeditiously.”
The Stephans were charged with waiting too long to seek medical attention for their son when he took ill in 2012. The couple was convicted by a jury in 2016, but the Supreme Court of Canada reversed the verdict. Justice Clackson however oversaw the second trial.
One of the trial’s issues was the cause of their son’s death. Dr. Adeagbo made a conclusion that the boy died from bacterial meningitis complications and the Crown argued that the couple should have known that but refused to seek medical attention.
While testifying, the Stephans said that initially, they thought their son had croup and he was treated with natural remedies which included a smoothie with onion, garlic and horseradish. When he stopped breathing, they called an ambulance.
Justice Clackson concluded that the boy had viral meningitis and approved the testimony given by a defence expert witness who said the boy died due to lack of oxygen while he was in the ambulance.
Whike rejecting the findings of Dr. Adeagbo, Justice Clackson wrote elaborately about the medical examiner’s style of speech, body language and attitude.
A group comprising more than three dozen lawyers, doctors and researchers filed the complaint after the decision.
The complaint revealed that the way Justice Clackson attacked Dr. Adeagbo could be viewed as racism: “It is hard to imagine that if Dr. Adeagbo, who is of African origin, had spoken in a typically American, Australian, British or other more familiar accent, Justice Clackson would have been so scathing.”
Juliet Guichon, who lectures about health, law and ethics at University of Calgary’s medical school and signed the complaint, disclosed she was higly surprised to read the comments of the judge about the medical examiner.
Adeagbo labeled the judge’s assessment as “surprising” and refused to comment further as petitioners await the judge’s sanction.
