“The Chhokar case showed the Scottish legal establishment to be a ‘gentlemen’s colonial club’. Now 18 years on it has changed the judicial system for good”
THIS WEEK, THE FAMILY OF MURDERED WAITER SURJIT SINGH CHHOKAR FINALLY GOT JUSTICE AFTER 18 YEARS. IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW, THEIR LAWYER AAMER ANWAR TELLS HOW THE CASE SHAMED SCOTLAND AND RESHAPED SCOTTISH LAW. JODY HARRISON REPORTS
IT was a fight for justice which spanned nearly two decades and exposed institutional racism at the heart of Scotland’s legal system.
The battle to jail the killer of Surjit Singh Chhokar finally came to an end last week when Ronnie Coulter was convicted of stabbing the 32-year-old to death in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, on November 4, 1998.
The conviction was the final milestone on his family’s quest for justice, which saw two trials end without a guilty verdict and prompted inquiries into the treatment they received and the law’s decision-making processes.
But Coulter was jailed only after a complete change in the mindset of the judiciary, and the ending of the “gentlemen’s colonial club” mentality which had disregarded the case for so long, according to the campaigning lawyer who took up the case and spoke to the exclusively to the Sunday Herald in the wake of Coulter’s conviction.
Aamer Anwar picked up the gauntlet on behalf of Surjit’s father and mother Darshan and Gurdev, and sister Manjit, when he was still a student studying law at Strathclyde University in Glasgow. Speaking in his office on Friday, he reflected on the 18 years he had spent on the path to justice, as well as the family’s resolve even as their hopes were repeatedly dashed.
“Someone asked me where I came up with the phrase ‘gentlemen’s colonial club’ which I used to describe the Scottish legal system. The phrase didn’t come out of nowhere,” said Anwar.
“Mr Chhokar [senior] was a sergeant major in the Indian Army who had worked for the UN and had family in the army. After his first dealings with the Crown Office, he said to me ‘Do these guys still think that this is the British Raj and they are my masters?’
“It was sheer arrogance. Faced with this family who did not even speak English asking questions and their upstart lawyer demanding answers, there was a sense of ‘how dare they?’
“It had never happened before. Black or white, no-one from a victim’s family had demanded answers in the way the Chhokar family had done.”
Surjit Singh, a waiter, was 32 when was murdered. He was set upon by three men as he headed to his girlfriend’s home with a takeaway meal.
Three men – Coulter, his nephew Andrew Coulter and David Montgomery – were arrested and their cases were heard in two separate trials, in 1999 and 2000. Each was acquitted of murder after blaming each other for the killing.
The three were actually given bail and while free, Andrew Coulter stabbed 26-year-old Pat Kelly to death in a close in Wishaw in 1999. He has recently been pictured on far-right demonstrations against refugees organised by the Scottish Defence League.
The collapse of the first trial sent shockwaves through the legal establishment and led the trial Judge, Lord McCluskey, to question why all three had not been tried together, only to be rebuked by the then Lord Advocate Lord Hardie. But the family vowed to fight on, and the campaign continued in ear- nest. Anwar said: “They mistook their dignity for weakness. Mr Chhokar was full of rage, and a real force of nature. He was determined not to lie down. Each time one of them would say ‘Let’s end it’, he would reply, ‘If we end it, they’ll think we just gave up. Did they think our son’s life is so cheap that we would just walk away?’”
The campaign went on to mobilise thousands of supporters and secure the backing of every trade union in Scotland. Questions were asked in the Scottish Parliament and political parties got on board. Anwar believes that the public pressure was crucial in beginning the process of change at the Crown Office. “When we galvanised support, that’s when we began to get in through the front door.
“Getting every political party’s
When the Lord Advocate came to visit Darshan Chhokar as he was dying, I knew the Crown Office had changed forever
support for justice was a major step because we then got into Parliament. We knew we would not focus on the police. It was the powerful legal establishment and Crown Office which was to blame.
“There was a continual attempt to blame the police, because they made easy scapegoats. I was conscious of that because up until that point I had been the biggest critic of the police.”
The campaign made unlikely allies among the police and meetings with Graeme Pearson, who was the assistant chief constable in charge of CID at the time, helped to build bridges.
Anwar continued: “We came to an unwitting truce, when we realised that what was happening behind the scenes would be a deliberate attempt to scapegoat the police for the failings of the Crown Office.
“Yes, there were insensitivities, and yes there was institutional racism in the treatment of the family, but in the end those police officers did their job and arrested three men. The people who let them go were the Crown Office.”
It was only in 2011, with the reform of the 800-year-old double jeopardy law, that the prospect of a further trial and a conviction became a possibility.
Police were instructed by the Crown Office at the start of 2012 to carry out a new investigation. Two years later the Crown applied to set aside the acquittals of the three original accused.
Appeal judges ultimately granted them permission to retry Ronnie Coulter but ruled that Andrew Coulter and David Montgomery should not stand trial again.
At first the Chhokar family were reluctant to believe in this ray of hope. “I was conscious it would take a great deal of courage on the part of the Crown Office to reopen the case because they had lost so badly and been hammered at the inquiries,” said Anwar.
“I went and saw the family. Mr Chhokar started shouting, saying ‘I’m not going back there again, they gave us nothing, they gave us no justice and now you want to drag this out again? We don’t have the strength, son.’
“I begged him, in tears, reminding him he swore he would not give up till he got justice. I said, ‘You’ve trusted me for nearly 14 years, give me this one more chance.’ But privately I thought ‘I hope I’m not going to regret this’.”
A behind-the-scenes meeting was held with Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland, Solicitor General Lesley Thomson, and Lindsey Miller, head of the Serious and Organised Crime Division, who all sought to reassure the family their son would finally have justice.
The Lord Advocate would later travel to the family home to visit Chhokar, as he lay dying of cancer. Tragically, he died last October before knowing the verdict he had fought for.
“In the past that would have been unthinkable,” said Anwar. Frank Mulholland respected the man. He said he wanted to come and tell them face to face, because Mr Chhokar was too ill to travel, and let them know they were going to do everything possible to get justice. That for me, more than anything, showed that the Crown Office had changed forever, because they gave that man what he deserved, which was dignity and respect.”
Aamer reflected this on the steps of the court on Wednesday when he paid tribute to Darshan. “There is real sorrow that Mr Chhokar is not here to see justice but I hope that both he and Surjit are now finally at peace.”
The family will make their final farewells to Surjit at a memorial at Kelvingrove Museum, where a bust dedicated to Surjit by the sculptor Alexander Stoddart has been placed.
There is closure and relief for the family, says Anwar, but there is also regret that the other two originally accused of the murder are still free. He still finds it difficult to accept a guilty verdict has finally been achieved, after the long years of struggle. “I suppose the biggest sense is vindication. It’s a bizarre feeling; I have spent 17 years of my life fighting for this.”