The chairman of the Committee of Inquiry (COI) on Wednesday morning accused the media of interfering with their work.

This was after The Straits Times interviewed the bus driver involved in the Dec. 8 fatal road accident last year just before the riot broke out and ran it as a news report even before he officially gave his witness testimony in court.

Former Supreme Court judge G. Pannir Selvam also said in court that the COI is not accountable to the media but only to the minister.

Selvam said: "All these are first unnecessary and highly improper. Our duty is to enquire, find out and report to the minister. But these reporters think that we have got to report to them first and then the minister. No, we don't do that."

He added that this case was a "plain and simple interference with witnesses" and "plain contempt of court."

But he was willing to forgive and forget: "While we may just overlook this case, this should not be repeated and if it is then we will take severe action against them."

By Wednesday night, ST editor Warren Fernandez was forced to publicly apologise: "It was not our intention to interfere with the work of the Committee of Inquiry as it goes about its crucial task of getting to the bottom of what happened on the night of Dec. 8, and why. We apologise that our report crossed that line."

However, public interest in the COI has been low though even as Singapore watched intently as Little India burnt during the riot that night.

On the first day of the hearing yesterday, the 40-seat public gallery at Court 13 of the Subordinate Courts was only barely half full, with the audience mainly made up of civil servants and media.

The members of the COI consists of former Supreme Court judge G Pannir Selvam, former Police Commissioner Tee Tua Ba, former National Trades Union Congress President John De Payva, and West Coast Citizens' Consultative Committee Chairman Andrew Chua Thiam Chwee.

Find Mothership.SG on Facebook and Twitter.