When judges go rogue …

Ever since her appointment as Chief Justice of the Seychelles in 2015, Mathilda Twomey, the first woman to hold this position, has been a target of sexist behaviour and threats by a particular senior colleague on the Bench. But though this judge, Durai Karunakaran, was unanimously recommended for dismissal almost a month ago, by an impeachment tribunal citing ‘serious and gross’ misbehaviour – including ‘forging orders of court’ – no further steps have been taken against him. Instead, the Chief Justice herself is now threatened with an impeachment inquiry. In her A Matter of Justice column, carried on the Legalbrief site, legal writer Carmel Rickard takes a look at the tribunal report on Karunakaran and at recent legal changes that threaten judicial independence and the rule of law in the Seychelles.