Snaresbrook Crown Court: Barrister secretly filmed while in car
A high-profile criminal barrister filmed drinking brandy while sitting in his car during a break in a case has been fined £3,000 by a disciplinary tribunal.
It accepted that Dominic D’Souza was ill and trying to calm his stomach, and there was no suggestion that he was drunk before or afterwards – “in fact the evidence suggests he had performed effectively in court”.
The Bar tribunal, chaired by Tom Crowther KC, heard that Mr D’Souza was sitting in his car in the car park during lunchtime at Snaresbrook Crown Court, where he was part heard in a trial. His car was parked facing away from the road and next to a large van.
The van owner covertly filmed the barrister taking two short drinks from a bottle of spirits and then made a formal complaint to the judge – not just that Mr D’Souza was drinking but about “other, far more serious, misbehaviour”.
This was “not provable” by the Bar Standards Board (BSB), the tribunal stressed, adding that “the evidence as we read it tends to suggest that allegation was false”.
But the false allegation led Mr D’Souza to decide he would have to withdraw from the trial, as a result of which the judge discharged the jury and made a report to the BSB.
The tribunal recorded that Mr D’Souza initially claimed he was drinking kombucha, which is not alcoholic, from a brandy bottle but later admitted it was actually brandy.
Mr D’Souza accepted through counsel that his behaviour had the potential to diminish public trust as “an observer might not be aware of how little alcohol he had consumed and might have cause to be concerned that his performance in court could have been adversely affected”.
The tribunal said: “As to culpability, while we of course accept that there is no prohibition on drinking at lunchtime, any barrister should bear in mind that context matters.
“It is difficult to conceive of a situation more likely to cause public disquiet than a barrister engaged in a trial sitting in the driver’s seat of a car in the Crown Court car park drinking directly from a bottle of spirits.
“However, we bear in mind that the respondent believed himself to be acting unobserved in private, that he drank very little, and that he did so misguidedly in circumstances when he was unwell. Overall, we take the view that his culpability is low.”
It also accepted that it was the false allegation that led to the collapse of the trial, not the drinking.
At the same time, the barrister’s seniority and experience, and his “regrettable” failure to admit initially what he had been drinking, were aggravating features.
In mitigation, it was argued that this was a “one off incident” that took place when Mr D’Souza was unwell.
The tribunal concluded that a reprimand – as his counsel had suggested – was not sufficient and that a “low-level fine” of £3,000 was appropriate. He was also ordered to pay the BSB costs of £2,670.
Mr D’Souza has a long list of high-profile cases that he has acted in, including for various celebrities.
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