A Bermuda judge has come under fire by the British Appeal Court for inappropriate comments made in relation to a murder case.
Serving as a junior judge at the British island territory until last month, Carlisle Greaves said he was getting 'horny' as a result of the amount of sex discussed during the trial.
The comment was a reaction to witness Troy Harris revealing he had sexual partners in common with Khyri Smith-Williams, who has since been convicted of using a firearm to carry out the murder of victim Colford Ferguson.
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The Daily Mail reports that the case was brought to the Court of Appeal when Smith-Williams' lawyer demanded a retrial, using the comment in question, among others, to claim the judge had behaved inappropriately.
Although they rejected his appeal, judge Sir Maurice Kay stated that the court did not condone the crude remarks: "In particular, his comment 'all this sex is beginning to get me horny' was inappropriate and inimical to the dignity of court proceedings.
"Mr Lynch was justified in criticising it. However, I do not believe that it damaged the defence or had the potential to undermine the safety of the conviction."
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Other comments made by Greaves have been revealed in light of the appeal of the case, which saw Smith-Williams sentenced to serve at least 35 years in prison last October for the murder of Ferguson in 2011.
Meanwhile, the witness noted that the killer confessed to his involvement in the crime, although he had said to him a man named Rasheed Muhammad pulled the trigger and that the victim was not the intended target.
In transcripts handed to the appeal court, Greaves was revealed to have called Muhammad a 'f****t' and repeatedly referenced 'f***ing p***y'.
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And while these were taken into consideration, the court ultimately dismissed the request for a retrial as they did not deem the comments a contributor to the conviction.
Justice Kay wrote: "Anybody familiar with serious criminal trials, in this jurisdiction in recent years, knows the judge has a very personal style, whereby he engages with witnesses, defendants, juries and advocates in an informal way, often using casual language and rich metaphors.
"In relation to Harris, it was important that the judge should facilitate his evidence, whatever it turned out to be.
"If he took the view, and I suspect he did, that the best course was to let the witness have his say, subject to the rules of evidence, rather than seek to inhibit him, it seems to me that that was an exercise of judgment which was open to him."
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