Magistrate shot in court after no-bail verdict

A Kenyan magistrate was shot and injured at the Makadara Law Courts in the capital Nairobi shortly after delivering denying bail for the wife of a police officer. The Nation reports the police officer, Chief Inspector Samson Kipchirchir Kipruto, was unhappy with Principal Magistrate Monica Kivuti's decision. A situation report on the incident indicates that the officer went berserk and opened fire on the magistrate and others. ‘His wife, Jenniffer Wairimu, was an accused in a case of obtaining money by false (sic) pretences,’ the report reads. ‘His wife had pleaded to be released on cash bail but the court did not grant it. He (Kipruto) entered the court through the magistrate’s door and fired shots towards the magistrate, injuring her on the chest and left hip.’ The officer, detectives said, ‘was countered and fatally shot by a fellow officer who was in the court’. Three other officers were injured, according to the report. In a statement, Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Winfridah Mokaya said the incident happened during an open-court session. Following the shooting, Chief Justice Martha Koome announced the closure of Makadara Law Courts until yesterday ‘for security reinforcement’.

Full report in The Nation