A Magistrates Court, at Etinan, Akwa Ibom State was on Friday thrown into confusion following the sudden appearance of a snake in the courtroom.

An Uyo based lawyer, Paul Nyambi described the snake as dangerous. He said

“A dangerous snake descended from the ceiling of the Courtroom at the Magistrate’s Court, Etinan, disrupted the court while proceedings were ongoing.

LegalDeskNg(LDN) learned that the Court was hearing the matter between the Commissioner of Police versus Xyz with Emmanuel Aaron as the Prosecutor while Paul Nyambi and Mfon Brown jointly appeared as Counsel for the Accused.

Nyambi said “Luckily, the snake which probably had come to participate in the day’s proceedings fell at the entrance of the Courtroom which sent people scampering to safety.

“The learned Chief Magistrate, Margaret Ekpedoho, Esq. managed to contain the uproar that followed after the unwanted guest descended front the ceiling but warns that if the learned snake is not killed, she will not enter her Chambers. Lol!

“After some minutes of chasing and hitting with all sizes of sticks, the daring snake which clearly came to disrupt the day’s judicial proceedings, smartly helped itself into a nearby shrub so as to escape the wrath of the Court clerks and other fearless men.

“After persistent hitting of the shrub with no signs of the snake, one of the men set fire on the shrub and after a few minutes of enduring the burning furnace, the snake ventured to escape only to be hit by one of the ever-ready men.

“By this time, yours truly, who was addressing the Court when the incident occurred had come out and saw first hand what happened and took some photographs which captured the nearby bush and big trees within the Court premises, he said.

Nyambi is calling on the Akwa Ibom State Judiciary to get rid of the trees within the Court premises so as to avoid any possible place for the dangerous reptiles to dwell.

One of the Counsel in Court, George Ufot, Esq., support the call by Nyambi urged the State Judiciary to without further delay, fumigate the Court premises to rid the Court premises of dangerous reptiles.

“The safety of the learned Magistrate, Counsel, the Clerks of the Court and other persons must be guaranteed against such preventable incidents,” Ufot said.