Fake lawyer misses wedding

A police officer and fiancée of Anthony Anyomi, a 34-year-old student who posed as a lawyer, on Thursday broke down and wept bitterly, pleading with her senior colleague police officers to temper justice with mercy and not prosecute her fiancé, whom she was scheduled to wed today.

The lady, who was reportedly shocked upon hearing that the suspect had been grabbed for claiming to be a lawyer, went and pleaded with the authorities not to go ahead and put the suspect on trial yesterday so that their wedding could come off today.

However the prosecuting team, led by Chief Superintendent Duuti Tuaruka, yesterday hauled the suspect before an Accra Circuit Court presided over by Mrs Patricia Quansah.

He was charged with impersonation but denied the offence and was remanded in police custody while the prosecuting team was ordered to furnish the court with a list of cases the suspect was handling before his arrest.

The case was then adjourned to January 14, 2016. With the decision of the court, it means that the suspect will be in detention instead of spending time with his wife.

The order came fresh off the heels of a submission by the prosecuting officer that the suspect had acted as counsel in a number of cases currently before the Circuit Courts in Accra and Ada.

Facts

The facts of the case, as presented by Prosecuting Officer Chief Supt Tuaruka, are that upon information that Anyomi was posing as a lawyer and was handling cases within Accra, the police mounted intelligence on him.

According to him, the suspect was arrested on January 5, 2016 while he was representing some unsuspecting persons at an Accra Circuit Court.

. He said after the arrest of the accused person, a number of police prosecutors came forward and identified Anyomi as someone who had posed as a lawyer in a number of cases, some of which were still pending at the Circuit Courts in Accra and Ada.

He stated that during interrogation, the suspect admitted that he was not a lawyer and noted that the police were still conducting investigations.

Messrs Sylvester Nyamekye, John Bernard Otto and Seidu Nasigri, counsel for the accused person, had said the suspect was a student whose fiancée was a police officer, adding that they were about to wed in less than 24 hours.

They said the offence was bailable and noted that the suspect would not desert his wife because of the case and would assist police in investigations.

According to them, the fiancée of the suspect was also pregnant and was likely to suffer “psychological discomfort and emotional trauma” if the wedding did not come off and prayed the court to allow the suspect to have the wedding as plans were far advanced for the occasion and invitation cards had been sent out.

Supt Tuaruka however said the matter was still under investigation and that the suspect would interfere with investigations if granted bail.

The trial judge consequently said even though the defence team sounded convincing in their submission, the suspect would be remanded for the court to be furnished with a list of all his cases.

The suspect, who once served time in prison for stealing a police officer’s uniform and released in 2014, was nabbed by police officers around the court premises after suspicion was raised about his conduct in court.

Anyomi, when asked by police prosecutors as to when he was called to the bar, mentioned 2014 but kept changing the date when he could not mention any classmate of his or any lawyer he was called to the bar with.