Judge Belinda Ang cited both Dr Chee Soon Juan and Ms Chee Siok Chin for contempt of court today. The Judge referred to a number of instances during the cross-examination of the Lees that led to her action.
One of the points cited by the Judge against Ms Chee was that the SDP leader had said “You already crippled us by not giving us a trial, at the assessment of damages, and then you further crippled us by allowing the striking out of our defence.
“And then, when Mr Ravi told you that he explained to the both of us, 2nd and 3rd defendants, that you will be giving us the latitude to cross-examine the Lees, you nodded your head, but you say that you don’t remember doing that.”
Another point Judge Ang cited was: “Yesterday you saw that my face was swollen as big as a gourd and you could see that I was in pain and I was in no condition to represent myself optimally in this court, and yet you continued with this session.
“[The doctor] has given me two days MC, but he says that he is pressed not to give a court MC for the leave of court, that he is pressed.
“Now, I ask you, your Honour, not that I have very much hope in this but I ask you to give us – you have already taken away our defence, you have denied us a trial – and I ask you not to limit, not to impose this guillotine which literally means chopping off – you have already chopped off our arms, our legs. What do you want next? Our heads?”
The Judge will hear the matter on Friday. The contempt hearing will be at 2.30pm in the same court.
She has also cited Dr Chee for contempt on several points one of which is the following:
Court: Dr Chee, I’m going to stop this line of cross-examination. It doesn’t get us anywhere on the assessment of damages.
Dr. Chee: All right. Let me move on, your Honour. You have a situation where you again are claiming that your integrity is of the highest order. Would you agree with that, Mr Lee [Kuan Yew]?
Court: Irrelevant.
Dr Chee: – that you have –
Court: The witness is not required to answer.
Dr Chee: And I would like – well, Your Honour, just – he’s brought up about integrity and I just want to be able to pursue that – that line just a little bit more. Is it the same integrity –
Court: Question is disallowed.
Dr. Chee: – and as a young man, I didn’t – I believed you but now I’m reading declassified documents from London saying that somehow –
Court: Dr Chee
Dr Chee: Was – in his political situation, and that somehow –
Court: Your question is disallowed.
Dr Chee: – you had – I beg your pardon, your Honour?
Court: The question is disallowed. How is this relevant to the assessment of damages?
Dr Chee: You haven’t even heard my question yet. I’ll make my question and then you can disallow it, your Honour.