Federal Court judge Augustine Paul dies

Senior Federal Court judge S Augustine Paul passed away today at 3.15pm at Selayang Hospital. He was 65.

It is learnt that he died of ailments due to cancer.

Augustine had presided over several controversial court cases including Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's corruption trial in 1998.

He was born in 1944 in Batu Gajah, Perak and had his early education at Sultan Yusof School, Batu Gajah, and Anderson School, Ipoh.

In 1996, Augustine was appointed judicial commissioner in the High Court, where two years later he was picked to hear Anwar’s trial six months after he was confirmed as High Court judge.

He found Anwar guilty on April 14, 1999, after a controversial hearing for abusing his power in tampering with police investigation o fhis sodomy case.

Anwar was subsequently sentenced to six years' imprisonment.

In one of the most enduring images of the trial, a mattress said to be stained with Anwar’s semen was brought to court and was submitted as DNA evidence.

A DNA expert testified that 10 out of 13 semen stains matched Anwar’s DNA. The defence team argued that Anwar’s DNA samples were planted on the mattress. Augustine, however, accepted the DNA evidence.

Augustine had been criticised for repeatedly refusing submissions of evidence by Anwar's defence team and dismissed them as “irrelevant” to the case.

Rapid promotions

Augustine’s 320-page judgment in the case was widely considered as the longest in the country's history.

Soon after Augustine was rapidly promoted - first as judge in the High Court in 1998; the Court of Appeal in 2003 and finally the Federal Court in 2005.

Augustine was appointed Federal Court judge within a short span of seven years, and he had several months to go before retiring at the time of his demise.

Chief Justice Tun Zaki Tun Azmi said Augustine was a hard working man.

"I have not known Augustine for a long time. However, for the short period that I came to know him, he was a very hard working man until the last moment... he was still working, he was always anxious about work than about himself," he told Bernama.

Augustine, who obtained his barrister-at-law from Inner Temple, England, began his career in 1971 as federal counsel at the Attorney-General's Chambers and later as a magistrate in Ipoh.

He also served as a Sessions Court judge in Pahang, Malacca and
Penang and was chairman of a special committee on taxation before being appointed to the Kuala Lumpur High Court in 1998.

Augustine had written several books - Cautioned Statements (1990), Impeachment Proceedings (1990), Trial within a Trial (1994) and Evidence-Practice and Procedure (1994). The book on evidence is currently the leading textbook on the subject in Malaysia. 

He is survived by wife Dr Mary Paul, daughter Dr Juliana
Sharmini, 29, and son Alan John, 27.

His casket is to leave his home at Lorong Taman Pantai 7 in Bangsar at 2pm tomorrow for the Parish of St Peter where his funeral will be held.