There was drama at the Bomet law courts on Tuesday afternoon after police fired live ammunition at a car in an attempt to stop a suspected impersonator from fleeing.
The man identified as Benjamin Rono had appeared before Resident Magistrate Maureen Aduke as a lawyer to represent a client in a defilement case.
What started as a normal court session degenerated into a confrontation between the security officers and the masquerade.
This is after he sensed that the investigating officers handling the case were after him.
The incident, which brought the business in and outside the court to a halt, left people scampering for safety after hearing the gunfire.
The case had come up for hearing with five witnesses having been lined up to testify.
When it was the turn for the man to take to the stage to represent his client who was the accused in the case, the magistrate who had been well briefed about the legitimacy of the fellow to practice law set the file aside.
He was later questioned by the court administrators to establish if he has the required credentials before being allowed to proceed with the case.
As he was being whisked to the office he ran away and entered his car before speeding off forcing officers to fire lat a tyre to stop him.
He was later arrested and detained at the cells in the court before being transferred to Chebunyo police station where he is face charges of impersonation.
The incident comes in the wake of reports by the Law Society of Kenya(LSK) that there is an increase in the number of person conning members
of the public while masquerading as lawyers.
Bomet county LSK chair Kadet Kiprono who spoke to the press outside the court warned individuals impersonating lawyers and their
days are numbered.
“We want to ask our people to be careful and check first from the LSK website or in our office to confirm if the person they want to deal with as their lawyer is a genuine one so that they don’t lose money to impersonators,” he said.
