A former convict was called to the Bar yesterday afternoon in a Supreme Court overflowing with emotion and heartfelt joy.

In the very courtroom where he was convicted in 1995 of wounding and firearms offences, Charles Richardson?s application was approved by Justice Ian Kawaley, who labelled him as a man of ?exceptional talents? and a shining example of how even the most extreme forms of adversity can be overcome.

Referring to Mr. Richardson?s chequered past, Justice Kawaley argued that society in general must take some of the blame, suggesting it was a tragedy that one so gifted had not immediately been ?embraced? by the community into which he was born.

?The man you now are, is the man you were always meant to be,? he said.

?You have exceptional gifts and I have no doubt that you will be an excellent member of the Bar.?

Addressing a multitude of family, friends, lawyers and politicians, Mr. Richardson was at pains to thank all those who have stood by him and counselled him through his period of incarceration.

In a powerful, eloquent and thought-provoking speech, he further urged the community at large to abandon its entrenched prejudices against those with criminal records, and to truly accept that offenders can be reformed to become productive members of the society from which they were temporarily removed.

Since his release from Westgate in 2002, Mr. Richardson has been a determined advocate of prisoners? rights and an outspoken critic of a correctional system which he believes is generally failing in its duty to properly rehabilitate those who pass through it.

?It is no secret that I have come to be called to this Honourable Bar by a very unusual route,? he said.

?In fact, my Lord, according to some variance of conventional social theory and other modes of thought, people like me are simply not supposed to be here. Any person who had objectively observed the formative years of my life could be forgiven for disbelieving that I stand where I stand now.

?But, unfortunately, there are many quarters of our ?enlightened? society, where there are still those who continue to embrace the belief that when a man crosses the line which demarcates legitimacy from criminality, that he automatically becomes a lesser being.

?This dictates that anybody who crosses that line inevitably condemns themselves to social exile. It is almost thought that he acquires membership of a permanent underclass.

?What is most disheartening about such an arbitrary categorisation of a human being is that it is often based on a single snapshot, taken from a brief moment in an entire lifetime...

?The idea that a true measure of a man can be accurately ascertained based upon a narrow consideration of one event, strikes me and has always struck me as being utterly unfair.

?I have set about trying to prove that the sum total of a man cannot be ascertained by focusing solely on the worst thing that he has ever done.?