MONROVIA, LIBERIA-The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia, Yamie Gbeisay, says courts have been commercialized, thus making people flee because of fees attached.
Justice Gbeisay said,” All staffers are employed, and if they are not satisfied with salaries, the market is open for them to go and do business”.
He said bailiffs, sheriffs, clerks, and recorders are charging unnecessary fees, and urged people to record anyone charging hugely and bring the matter before him.
Justice Gbeisay disclosed that he has constituted a Standing Committee comprising the Auditor, Assistant Court Administrator, and Security Director to carry the complaints of staffers engaged in such behavior.
The Chief Justice warned that “heads will roll” and some will lose their jobs, stressing that the Judiciary is not a market ground where citizens will run from the courts.
At the same time, Criminal Court “A” has rescheduled the medical examination findings of six of the fourteen defendants in the Capitol Arson Case to Wednesday, September 24, this year.
The report was earlier scheduled for Thursday, September 18, 2025, at Criminal Court “A”, at the Temple of Justice.
The rescheduling was announced through a notice of assignment to the party lawyers, but did not state reasons for the extension.
The defendants have since completed their medical examination at the AMI Expeditionary Hospital, after they rejected going to JFK Medical Hospital for a checkup, because it’s a government-run facility.
The defendants’ medical examination was triggered by Defense Lawyer Cllr. Arthur Johnson’s submission to the court, that their clients were tortured and sodomized by state security during the investigation.
Still at the Judiciary, lawyers representing defendant Sam Worlobah have filed a motion before Criminal Court “B”, seeking a new trial.
The motion from Defense Lawyers is a result of the trial jurors’ guilty verdict against defendant Sam Worlobah, who performed an illegal surgery that led to a patient’s death.
The request for new litigation is consistent with Chapter 22, Section 22.1 of the Criminal Procedure Law of Liberia.
Defense Lawyer Cllr. Senny Carlor’s application to the Court, among other things, claimed that the jurors’ guilty verdict went contrary to the weight of evidence adduced in Court by Prosecuting Lawyers and wanted said verdict set aside.
Cllr. Carlor’s motion to the Court centered on the sentencing of his client by Judge Wesseh A. Wesseh, pending the report by the Probation Office of the Justice Ministry.
Defendant Sam Worlobah, who worked as a licensed Operating Room Technician at the Lofa Medical Clinic, was indicted in 2025, during the February Term of Court, for illegally performing an operation, leading to the death of a patient.