A barrister caught drinking brandy in the car park of a London court during a trial has been fined £3,000.
Dominic Charles D’Souza was filmed by a van driver as he sat in the driver’s seat of his car and took two swigs from the brandy bottle.
The barrister was midway through a trial at Snaresbrook crown court at the time of the incident, on March 29, 2023.
When a complaint was made to the trial judge, Mr D’Souza withdrew from the case and the jury was discharged.
The barrister has now been ordered to pay £3000 in fines for professional misconduct as well as £2,670 in costs, after Bar Standards Board investigation.
Mr D’Souza, a barrister since 1993, initially said he had been trying to settle an upset stomach and insisted he had drunk Kombucha from the brandy bottle.
But he went on to admit misconduct and conceded the substance had actually been brandy.
The tribunal found that Mr D’Souza’s withdrawal from the case and the discharge of the jury was based on a wider allegation from the van driver, which was later adjudged to be false.
The panel noted that Mr D’Souza had “performed effectively in court” and was not drunk while handling the case.
“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 (D’Souza) 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.”
Mr D’Souza, who is head of crime at London’s Goldsmith Chambers, has the option to appeal the tribunal’s ruling.
