Judge tells JSC of his distress

Pretoria High Court Judge John Murphy described an "altercation" between himself and advocate William Mokhari outside the courtroom last year as having left him "distressed".

Murphy was addressing concerns about the incident that had been raised by the Judicial Service Commission during his interview for a position at the Labour Appeal Court in Cape Town yesterday.

Mokhari, who was representing police crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli, complained that Murphy had brought the judiciary into disrepute.

Several commissioners had, during Murphy's interview, expressed their discomfit at having to consider the judge with the matter still hanging over him.

Murphy had described how while court was in session, he had asked Mokhari a question, which the advocate had refused to answer: "Mr Mokhari had categorised the question in a particular way and refused to answer. he refused to answer four times," said Murphy.

This led to a further face-off outside the courtroom, where it has been reported that Murphy allegedly called Mokhari an "idiot".

Murphy later apologised to Mokhari during an attempt to broker peace by Gauteng Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba.