A man who grabbed a firearm and attempted to shoot at court users at the Mombasa law courts tried to commit suicide by slitting his stomach open at the Shimo La Tewa Maximum prison.
Musa Salim, who is being held in connection to charges of stealing contrary to section 268 as read with 275 of the penal code, is reported to have used a razor blade to inflict injuries on himself moments after he was whisked from the Mombasa law courts where he had grabbed a firearm from a prison officer and threatened to shoot at court users inside a courtroom.
He has since recorded his statement at the Central police station following the incident.
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He is yet to be charged concerning the Monday attempted shooting incident as detectives are waiting for him to recover and undergo a mental assessment to establish if he is fit for trial.
The suspect had been arraigned before the court for the hearing of his case and as he waited for the mention of his matter he grabbed the firearm from the prison Warden and threatened to end his life before attempting to cock the rifle aiming at court users.
According to a letter written to the Mombasa law courts chief magistrate, copied to the presiding judge Olga Sewe, the suspect whose matter was set to be heard in court number five presided by principal magistrate Gladys Olimo grabbed a gun from a prison Warden and tried to cock the gun to shoot inside the courtroom but was overpowered.
"I refer to the above-captioned matter and wish to inform you that this afternoon we have had an unfortunate near shooting. The incident happened when an accused person grabbed a firearm and tried to shoot people around but was unable to cock the firearm to enchamber it," read the letter.
The letter further states that the suspect was overpowered by court orderlies and the firearm taken away.
The magistrate was later whisked away to her chambers.
"It is no doubt that this is a scary and unfortunate incident that should not have taken place the magistrate was shaken after the incident and all the matters before her had to be taken out," read part of the letter.
The incident was reported at Central police station Mombasa.
"We have taken up the matter with the Mombasa Central police station and the same is under investigation," read the letter.
Normalcy in court
A spot check by K24 Digital inside the courtroom yesterday revealed that normalcy had returned with the magistrate presiding over matters, with only one court orderly attached.
Several prison officers kept guard outside the court.
