Formal advice
A magistrate has received formal advice for misconduct after a member of the public complained that a comment he made in a private WhatsApp group was “racially prejudiced”.
The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) confirmed that magistrate Derek Muhammad was sanctioned following a complaint from a member of the public who said they had experienced “distress” as a result of the comment.
In his defence, Muhammad denied the comment was racist, arguing it had been “taken out of its context”. He said it was made as part of “a private intellectual discussion about the complex legacy of Winston Churchill and the colonial history of Britain”, according to the published decision, and that it was intended as “a criticism of colonial exploitation” rather than an expression of “racial animus toward people with whom he shares ancestry”.
Muhammad, who was appointed to the magistracy in 2007, cited his long and unblemished record of public service and suggested the complaint was “vexatious and insincere”.
A nominated committee member of the South-East Region Conduct Advisory Committee found that Muhammad had posted the comment, and that it was “racially inappropriate as it could be interpreted as expressing a negative view of people from a particular group or background”. The committee member found that, “regardless of Mr Muhammad’s intention or actual belief, the comment could be perceived to call into question his impartiality, independence or integrity”, and that this amounted to misconduct.
In recommending formal advice, the committee member noted that it was a single comment posted in a private group and that Muhammad had not intended to cause offence, and acknowledged his previously unblemished conduct record. However, she also noted his “failure to show remorse or awareness of how his comment could be perceived”, despite being an experienced magistrate.
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