By Sujin Thomas
Crime reporter
sujint@sph.com.sg

 

'FUNNY.' It's a word hardly associated with a place as stern and austere as the Subordinate Courts.

After all, it is a place where, each day, lives are changed, often for the worse. Wrongdoers are admonished in courtrooms, many are led away to prison, and even on the courtrooms steps, the effects of judgments being handed down is felt: Each day, family members who attend hearings can be seen wailing and sobbing at the fates of their loved ones.

But there is a lighter - and hardly reported - side to the proceedings that unfold each day.

Two weeks ago, a man who stood in the dock asked the judge to adjourn his sentencing date for a month so that he could celebrate Deepavali with his family.

He was expecting to be jailed.

The judge was not convinced he needed that much time to celebrate the festival of lights and turned to a Hindu court interpreter.

She asked him, 'How long does it take you to celebrate Deepavali?'

To which he replied. 'It is a one-day affair, your honour.'

The convicted man then sheepishly muttered that he also needed time to settle some personal matters during that time.

The judge told him he should have come clear with her, but allowed then adjournment anyway - for three weeks, not a month.

A case mentioned before the same judge involved another Hindu man. This time his lawyer asked for a month's adjournment - going into detail how he needed time to prepare his client's mitigation submissions.

Taking on a semi-stern tone, the judge stared at the lawyer.

She said, 'Don't you think it would be easier to just tell me that your client needs to celebrate Deepavali?'

Everyone guffawed.

On one other occasion, a foreign construction worker took to the witness stand and began taking his oath. It was nothing unusual except for the fact that he held his right hand out in the fashion Adolf Hitler made notorious.

A court interpreter had to physically yank his arm into the accepted position after repeated demonstrations failed.

Sometimes, even a place that can qualify as a theatre of the absurd - each day, people dressed in everything from suits to shorts waltz in and out, and a dizzying variety of hairdos, body piercings and other accoutrements are on display - things can get otherworldly.

At dusk on Friday (Oct 31), a woman dressed as a witch, complete with ghoulish face make-up and long-flowing black hair, waltzed into the building's main entrance.

No one stopped her, but it's instructive to note that, in the courts, where little is surprising, everyone stopped and stared.

Then again, Friday was Halloween, and it was clear the woman was having a little bit of fun.

Proving, once again, that even in a deathly-serious place, people do break into a chuckle every now and then.