Dominic D'Souza

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Barrister Dominic D'Souza admitted three charges of professional misconduct after being covertly filmed drinking spirits from a bottle in his car in the Snaresbrook Crown Court car park during a break in a criminal trial on 29 March 2023. The Tribunal found his culpability low (he believed himself unobserved, drank little, and was unwell) and that no definable harm flowed from the culpable conduct, as it was a separate false allegation that led to his withdrawal and the jury's discharge. He was fined £1,000 on each charge (£3,000 total) and ordered to pay £2,670 costs. No dishonesty was found.

Duties found breached:

• Overriding duty to the court
• Avoid wasting the court's time
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Seniority and experience of the respondent
• Failure to offer earlier factual admissions (initially claimed he was drinking Kombucha, only admitting brandy in November 2024)

Mitigating factors:

• One-off incident occurring when respondent was unwell
• Low future risk
• Drank only a small amount at a time when trial responsibilities were minimal; his prior court performance was impressive
• The disciplinary process (including more serious allegations) had significant adverse professional and personal impact

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["unverified_fine_amount=3000"]