MONROVIA – The grounds of the judiciary on Thursday, April 6, 2023, were clouded with a tumultuous atmosphere when bailiffs at the Temple of Justice assaulted a journalist and tore the journalist’s clothes, threatening the journalist not to allow him on the grounds of the court. They warned that if seen anywhere around the proximity of the court, they would kill him.
Bailiff Nathaniel Green – alias Big-boy – who was the former chief justice’s driver, assaulted OK FM judicial reporter Richard Watson for not immediately reporting an accident that occurred at the court.
Earlier, bailiffs on the grounds of the temple of justice were in a scuffle with a mentally deranged man who assaulted the bailiffs while they were trying to get him out of the corridor of the court. Bailiff Green believed that this should have been reported immediately to the public rather than having it published the next day.
Nathaniel Green, who was not on the scene when the altercation occurred between his fellow bailiff and the mentally deranged man, insulted journalists and interrogated them about their reportorial function. He asserted that he was once attacked by the same madman and journalist in court, but this time there was not an immediate report of the matter.
While journalists were watching him in silence, bailiff Nathaniel Green, who was under the influence of alcohol, assaulted Richard Watson of Okay FM. Out of fear of being hurt and in self-defense, journalist Watson retaliated to bailiff Green with a slap and walked away to the office of the judicial reporter.
This prompted other bailiffs to break the door of the reporter’s office and start to beat journalist Watson and forcefully took him away for investigation.
Meanwhile, the office of public affairs at the judiciary and the administration of the judicial security have taken custody of the matter and launched an investigation into it.
At the same time, the leadership of the Association of Judicial Reporters, through its assistant secretary Taisiah K. Marfee, has condemned the brutality against journalists at the court and called on the two investigating parties to be impartial in the investigation.
The leadership has also called on the judiciary, through the leadership of the chief justice, Justice Yuoh, to ensure that journalists covering the court are protected under the law, irrespective of the nature of the story being reported professionally.
It can be recalled that the chief justice, on many occasions, has pledged to make the judiciary a vibrant one that the citizenry can count on. Since making the said commitment, she has been putting in measures to rebrand the image of the judiciary by shifting judges and establishing training for staffers of the judiciary, mainly bailiffs. However, despite the training meant for the rebranding of the judiciary, bailiffs are still seen in the corridors of the court, busy doing nothing but assaulting journalists.
The judicial reporters also called on the chief justice to conduct drug and alcohol tests for all bailiffs as part of the rebranding of the judiciary.”
