Retired Justice of Appeal Mustapha Ibrahim has died in London. He was 82.
Ibrahim migrated to Birmingham to live with his daughter Karima, following the passing of his wife two years ago. He died on Thursday night.
Sources close to Ibrahim told the T&T Guardian that he had been ailing for some time and recently underwent a surgical procedure, from which he never recovered.
In extending condolences to the relatives of Ibrahim, former Chief Justice Michael de la Bastide recalled that his first interaction with Ibrahim was “when I appeared before him when I was in private practice.”
He said “it was always a pleasure to do a case before him. He had a very quick mind and a pleasant personality.”
De la Bastide would go on to become Chief Justice, and the two would sit together at the Court of Appeal.
The former Chief Justice said “those qualities which I saw when I was a lawyer appearing before him, served him in good stead in the Court of Appeal.”
He said Ibrahim “wrote or contributed too many important judgments.”
Although the two did not keep in touch after Ibrahim retired in the year 2000, de la Bastide said, “he will be remembered by many in the legal profession with affection and respect.”
Another retired judge who worked with Ibrahim said, “he was a very nice man. We shared a lot of judicial camaraderie. He was a first class criminal judge.”
Ibrahim served as a High Court judge in T&T for 10 years before he was elevated to the Court of Appeal where he served for another decade.
He left the T&T Judiciary in the year 2000 just short of his retirement and took up a five-year stint in the Bahamas Court of Appeal, following which he returned to Trinidad.
His retirement was short-lived as he was approached by then Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma shortly after his return from the Bahamas to sit as a temporary judge to clear up the backlog in the civil courts.
His service as a temporary Judge ended after three years.
But his retirement was again delayed when he was approached to sit on a Commission of Inquiry to investigate a series of matters associated with the former St Lucia Party Government of Dr Kenny Anthony.
In January 2015 he was appointed as Chairman of the Las Alturas Commission of Inquiry set up to investigate the entire process which led to the construction of the Las Alturas Towers at Lady Young Gardens, Morvant.
Two multi-storey units of the housing project began falling apart after construction and the $26 million towers were earmarked for demolition.
Its findings were laid in Parliament and became the subject of a legal challenge from former UDeCOTT chairman Calder Hart who the report found should be held responsible for the failed $26 million towers.
Hart labelled the report as “procedurally flawed” and “defective in substance.”
Justice Ibrahim also headed the investigative team to probe the death of baby Simeon Cottle, whose head was slashed from ear to ear at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex.
The former High Court and Appeal Court Judge leaves to mourn his two children—Karima and Khalil—and six grand children.
