Crime News
Racist Canadian Judge Terry Clackson Mocks Nigerian Doctor Over His Thick Nigerian Accent
Racist Canadian Judge Terry Clackson Mocks Nigerian Doctor Over His Nigerian Accent
By Newsweek Magazine
A judge in the Province of Alberta Canada is now facing accusation of racism for mocking the accent of Dr. Bamidele Adeagbo, a medical expert from Nigeria who testified during a trial, according to the CBC and the Montreal Gazette.
Forty-two legal, educational and medical professionals across Alberta have united to request an investigation from the Canadian Judicial Council (CJC) into language used by Justice Terry Clackson during a trial for two individuals who were accused of murdering their son.
“We are of the view that Justice Clackson acted discriminatorily,” the complaint reads in part. “Some may perceive racism.”
The trial in Lethbridge, Alberta was the second for David and Collet Stephan, who were being tried for charges connected to the 2012 death of their 19 month old son Ezekiel. Instead of taking Ezekiel to a doctor immediately, the Crown accused, the two treated his bacterial meningitis with naturopathic medicine.
Dr Bamidele Adeagbo: mocked by the Canadian judge over his Nigerian accented English
When Ezekiel died, the crown charged them with failing to provide the necessaries of life, having delayed to bring him to the hospital for treatment. They were already convicted in 2016 by a trial in Lethbridge—the Alberta Court of Appeals upheld this verdict, though the Canadian Supreme Court found that the judge had erred in his instructions to the jury.
The expert witness for the defense, Dr. Anny Sauvageau, argued that Ezekiel’s viral meningitis was not the cause of his death. Instead, she blamed a lack of oxygen for his passing. However, Crown expert Dr. Bamidele Adeagbo, a forensic pathologist who autopsied Ezekiel, testified that the child had bacterial meningitis and a lung infection, the former of which contributed to his death.
Justice Clackson accepted Sauvageau’s testimony over Adeagbo’s, saying it was impossible to charge the Stephens with killing their son.
In his verdict, Clackson spent a full paragraph complaining about Adeagbo’s thick Nigerian accent while summarizing concerns the defense expressed about his level of expertise as a witness. But his own concerns were grammatical.
“His ability to articulate his thoughts in an understandable fashion was severely compromised by: his garbled enunciation; his failure to use appropriate endings for plurals and past tenses; his failure to use the appropriate definite and indefinite articles; his repeated emphasis of the wrong syllables; dropping his Hs; mispronouncing his vowels; and the speed of his responses,” Clackson wrote.
“Justice Clackson harshly mocked Dr. Adeagbo’s manner of speech and accented English, and thereby inappropriately implicated his national or ethnic origin as a person of African roots,” the letter sent to the CJC said.
“It is hard to imagine that if Dr. Adeagbo, who is of African origin, had spoken in a typically American, Australian, British, or other more familiar accent, Justice Clackson would have been so scathing,” it continued.
The letter goes on to say that Clackson may have given Dr. Adeagbo’s words less weight because of these presumed speech problems, and note that Clackson made no reference to the thick French-Canadian accent of Dr. Sauvageau.
The Alberta Crown Prosecution Service has not announced whether or not they plan to appeal Clackson’s verdict. A spokesperson for Alberta’s Court of Queen’s Bench said that the court is “aware” of the complaint.
Layeta Georgewill
September 27, 2019 at 2:35 PM
Even though he is right, he shouldn’t have used his position to support racism.
They won’t do anything to me because everyone in the western world see whites as superior and black as inferior
Metu Nyetu
September 27, 2019 at 3:58 PM
THAT’S THE PROBLEM WITH THESE WHITES WHO THINK that they are gods in human flesh. Well, ever since I understood the factor behind racism, I became less likely to complain about it. You never attack a man, unless you feel threatened by him. You only attack somebody when you feel there’s something about him better than what you have. Any racist you see today is someone who feels inferior to the person they want to bring low. If I were this doctor, I wouldn’t press any charges; I would rather show him a condescending, pitiful forgiveness, and make the world know exactly what I did.
Funsho Williams
September 27, 2019 at 9:35 PM
He looks more like a farmer. He is probably in a wrong profession.
Because he is white, he will always get away with everything
Rose
September 28, 2019 at 5:49 AM
Better stay in your country than go to other country that you think it’s better than yours.
uzoma
September 29, 2019 at 11:18 AM
Rose you miss the point. There are Nigerians and other nationals outside their countries practicing their professions without molestation. This I am very much aware of. The problem is this racist judge and not this Doctor practicing outside Nigeria. Even in Nigeria there exists discrimination against tribes.
Jilo
September 30, 2019 at 7:52 PM
That is the problem of white racists. The moment they hear your accent forget about other credible evidence. This judge is not the first Judge to feel that way. Even if that man is the most qualified person in that field, they still have that feeling that he may not be good as their white counterparts. I have been there, I have worked with a lot of them, our accent is a treat to them. The man in question, Dr. Adeagbo was hired by that district and work for Canadian Government. If he’s not qualified, he wouldn’t have been hired by that district government as their representative.. The Judge was being biased over his accent which has nothing to do with the evidence. This is the reason why I told one guy to hire an American Lawyer when he had Immigration problem because hiring an African or other foreign lawyer may negatively affect your case.
I have has similar issue with one of my co-workers who used to look down on me because of my accent. He always tell other co-workers about me that, look at that African dude, pointing at me that, he didn’t know how I managed to get hired as his superior in the office. He always act like bully because most of these Akata men always interested in fighting. He was jealous and felt humiliated because of my position. This guy dropped out of school at 8 grade and he felt cheated because I came all the way from Africa to come and become his boss. One day I confronted him and ask him what was his issue? I told him if you want this job, all you need to do is to go back to school and do the right thing. He was so mad, he was ready to attack me then I went to my boss and reported him. My boss called him and gave him last warning not to bring racial discrimination into work place. Since then he never harassed me. I have seen a lot of foreigners here be it Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers going through the same thing but If you are very good in what you are doing, you will always triumph.