Respect court rooms

Court users and the public must respect the National and Supreme Court rooms, Justice Panuel Mogish says.
He said the National and Supreme Courts were not similar to village courts or other lower courts in the country so court users must respect that.
He made these comments yesterday at the National Court in Kwikila, Central, when a defendant was laughing in court while a witness was testifying against him.
Rawali Geno, from Kamali village in Rigo district, was charged with assault and causing grievous bodily harm.
Geno was sitting in the accused box while a State witness Mark Vali was giving his side of the story.
He was laughing and smiling when Vali was addressing the court in response to questions asked by his (Geno’s) lawyer Garry Tine, from the Public Solicitor’s Office.
State lawyer Mercy Tamate asked the court to order Geno to stop laughing and smiling as it would affect the witness in presenting the evidence.
Mogish told Geno that he was sitting in the National Court and he must respect the court.
“Keep quiet because you will also have your turn to sit in the witness box.”