Lawyer gets into trouble with judge

By TREVOR WAHUNE
A JUDGE has ordered that a lawyer be dealt with by the national judicial staff services administration after finding him guilty of contempt of court.
Judge Ambeng Kandakasi, sitting as a single Supreme Court judge on Friday, ordered that lawyer Dudley Yariyari be dealt with by the staff services administration after he failed to properly represent a client in a slip rule application case.
Yariyari was representing candidate Lucas Dekena in an election petition challenging the win of Gumine open MP Nick Kuman in last year’s elections.
Justice Kandakasi said he and other senior judges would decide on what consequences would follow because it was not the first time Yariyari had failed his clients by not providing arguable materials in court.
“Once a lawyer makes a representation in court, stand on it with arguable grounds, until the end.” Justice Kandakasi said.
Justice Kandakasi said when parties where issued copies of the transcript of the last Supreme Court proceedings, the appellants should have taken time to go through it thoroughly and bring up new arguable issues.
“Instead, the issues raised where the ones raised at the objection to competency,” he said.
Justice Kandakasi dismissed the application after he found that the grounds relied on by the appellant were not arguable, and that the petition itself was also filed late.
“This is not the first time you have wasted the court’s time,” Justice Kandakasi told Yariyari. “What has happened here is contempt in the face of the court.”
Meanwhile, Kuman, who is the Education Minister, in a statement said he felt compelled to put the record straight that the election petition was over.
Kuman said that although the perception of the general public may have held on me what they saw on television news, what unfolded on the day of swearing-in when there were two members declared and two writs issued.
“I must say I had nothing to do with this as I had won the election, retaining may seat fair and square,” he said