How are the mighty fallen!

Well, I never thought I would ever see (or read about) an Australian High Court Judge going to jail.

Justice Marcus Einfeld is now in jail over a $77.00 speeding fine! Unbelievable. How can a man of integrity, as a judge needs to be, lie and attempt to pervert the course of justice is beyond me. Surely, surely he must have been aware of the need for honesty – I mean he is a judge!! He is supposed to uphold the law and punish those who break the law. How many times would he have heard people in court requested to “swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God?” Yet he could not do it.

While I can feel sympathy for him in his current situation, I feel saddened, let down, disappointed and, frankly puzzled, at the hubris of the man. Did he think he was above the law? Did he think that he could use his (former and previously highly regarded) position as a judge to avoid the penalty for what is really a very petty crime – reflected in the amount of the fine?

The people I feel really sorry for are his family. They must be devastated.

Also it must have been a very difficult moment for the presiding Judge, who would surely have known Marcus Einfeld socially, when he had to actually pass sentence and send a former ‘co-worker’ to jail.

Einfeld has been described as a ‘man of honour’. Sad, very sad. It is true isn’t it – the higher you climb, the further you fall.

PS. I have just re-read my last post – I did not realize how apposite it was(is) – Einfeld “feared the truth lest it denounce him!!”