Profile
Prior to his arrest, Kevin de Souza was a law student and was involved with the Catholic Students’ Society, NUS (“CSSNUS”). At that time, CSSNUS was involved in making the student and wider community aware of many unjust government policies impacting on low income workers and the disadvantaged in society.
When Kevin was arrested, he was a full-time church worker with the Catholic Students’ Society, Singapore Polytechnic. He was involved in the formation of students towards a Christian faith that encompassed an option for the poor and social justice.
After his release from prison in 1987, Kevin was in private legal practice in Singapore and for several years, he worked in Hong Kong as a refugee lawyer with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. As he believed in making the law accessible to all, Kevin was involved with the Law Society of Singapore’s Criminal Legal Aid Scheme and provided pro bono legal service to various community organisations. For many years, he was also involved with the Jesuit Refugee Service in Singapore creating awareness of the plight of refugees.
Current Status
Kevin and his family migrated to Australia in April 2003. He completed further studies to gain admission to legal practice in Western Australia.
He is currently practising as a lawyer in Perth. Today, he and his wife, Lucy are kept busy with the various activities of their 3 young children aged 16 , 14 and 10 years old. Besides work and family, Kevin has also been involved in various community organisations. For several years, he served on the board of directors of CASE for Refugees, a pro-bono community legal centre in Perth serving refugees. He now regularly provides free legal advice at the Citizens Advice Bureau in Western Australia and was recently appointed Vice-President of the Australian Eurasian Association of Western Australia.
