It was Judge Meyer Joffe's last sitting in the Johannesburg High Court as a judge but it will be the one he is remembered for.
On Tuesday after presiding over one of the most high profile cases in recent South African history, Judge Joffe sentenced former national police commissioner Jackie Selebi to 15 years in jail.
Minutes later he announced his retirement. He told a packed gallery that he had five minutes to vacate his office at the high court.
He is due to take up an executive director position at the South African Judicial Institute.
The institute was formed last year to train aspirant judges and would be temporarily housed in the CBD while its offices at Constitutional Hill are being built.
Despite this Judge Joffe indicated he would be available for Selebi's application for leave to appeal against his conviction and sentence if it was brought before him.
In October 2006, Judge Joffe was a presiding officer in the case of Thembekile Mankanyi, a South African gold miner, in his failed attempt to sue his employer AngloGold Ashanti, stating that he had developed the lung disease silicosis while working in the Vaal Reefs Mine.
Mankayi at the time sought R2.6 million.
Judge Joffe ruled against Mankayi.