Ex-court reporter becomes magistrate

Former state – broadcaster ELBC judicial bureau chief Fallah Matthews has been assigned as Associate Magistrate to the Brewerville Township Magisterial Court in Montserrado County, having gone through a time of rigorous training under a judicial program at the Temple of Justice in Monrovia.

A letter dated 25 September from Judge Peter W. Gbeneweleh introducing Magistrate Matthews to his superior, Stipendiary Magistrate Lafayette Griggs, carries a mandate of Chief Justice Francis S. Korkpor, Sr., and seeks a cordial working relationship.

Before taking up this new task, Mr. Matthew has had years of reporting from the Judicial Branch of government as broadcast journalists assigned by ELBC, and has also served as president of the Association of Judicial Reporters (AJUR).

He later quit the leadership of the auxiliary group while aspiring to become a magistrate. In his address at a ceremony on Wednesday, 27 September, Mr. Matthews pledged to dispense justice in line with the dictates of the laws of Liberia.

The new magistrate has commented on “two evils” that he says pervade the trial courts here, citing violation of confidentiality of judges’ pending rulings or judgments and the stealing or destroying of court’s documents.

“Those having custody, control, and access to court’s documents will be held accountable for the disappearance and/ or destruction thereof,” Mr. Matthews warns.

Concerning the first evil which is violation of confidentiality, Mr. Matthews observes that before a judge delivers a ruling or judgment, its contests are already leaked out.

By Winston W. Parley