And in other news, last night, we told you that court reporter Anita Nembhard requested court action after an accused woman deliberately coughed on her - a kind of germ assault.
Epifania Caliz, common law wife of Elmer Nah, was in court on ammunition charges. As usual, Nembhard sat in the court taking notes before waiting outside with her camera in hand to take video footage of the defendants walking out. It's something she does everyday, but this time, Caliz pulled down her mask and coughed in her face, which she also caught on camera.
And it's not the first time Nembhard has faced this type of behavior from accused persons she has filmed. She explained that there are times she even fears for her life. Here's what she told us today.
Anita Nembhard, Court Reporter
"As a human being, my first instinct was to react, but then I realize honestly it didn't make any sense to react the way I thought she wanted me to react. I could have gotten angry, I could have gone behind her because after she did that, she walked away slowly, she didn't even run. And I honestly wanted to do other than what I did, but I realized it didn't make sense to take my right and make it wrong."
"I thought that the best thing for me to do, that's why I was extremely annoyed, a bit frustrated for her to behave like that because I felt very disrespectful for someone to actually take off their mask and cough in your face like that."
"I am yet waiting to see when she will be charged because in all honesty I have reached a point where if I am to make a report against everybody I'll be living at the police station. I have had a lot of incidents happen outside of the courtroom, within the courtroom, with defendants or accused and relatives of accused persons that they have made me feel like I have the need to have protection, the need to go to the police on several occasion and I don't think that's right. I am in my capacity doing my job, I try not to get in people's faces, stay out of their way, because you never know when someone will do something. That I never expected from her because I've always had my distance with her as best as I could other than when we're in a courtroom and not to irritate her in any way so I don't know what sparked her to behave like that yesterday."
"And I expect her to be arrested or to be charged within the end of this week, hopefully."
Courtney Menzies:
"There's a lot of trials that come along with specifically being a court reporter because you're in the faces of these criminals, they see you everyday, or these people who are before the court. You come out here still, you do the job everyday, what keeps motivated knowing that you might sometimes fear for your life?"
Anita Nembhard, Court Reporter
"That's true, I fear many times but it's the fear that to me motivate me. People want me to be afraid and I believe that I should not be afraid, if I'm doing a job, and I should be allowed to do my job with fairness I have to be mutual and I take both sides, I don't just want to hear from the accused, I go to the alleged VC if they will talk to me and I try to talk to the accused because many people say, media people we only want one side, but out here I try to be as fair as I can."
"So I don't think people should have me fearing them, yes it's not the easiest job to do, when I'm out here I always have to be, not really looking over my shoulder but know the environment that I am in."
