The Bermuda legal community and friends filled Supreme Court One yesterday to pay tribute to Puisne Judge Vincent Meerabux.

Mr. Meerabux was 65 when he died last month at his family home in London and yesterday a handful of lawyers and judges paid tribute to the man who spent 17 years in Bermuda's legal system.

Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Kulendra Ratneser said Mr. Meerabux was "compassionate and understanding" and "a good listener".

Defence lawyer Victoria Pearman added: "I don't know how a ten-foot brain and a ten-foot heart fit into that five-foot-five-inch body."

All of the lawyers who spoke gave their sympathies to the man's family and expressed that Bermuda had lost a "courageous" judge.

Puisne Judge Ian Kawaley said that Mr. Meerabux had made 107 judgments and rulings in his nine years as a Justice.

Chief Justice Austin Ward, although recovering from heart surgery, was on hand and said: "Justice Meerabux's untimely death has left us saddened and thinking of our own lives."