A man who pleaded guilty to pretending to be a lawyer was given a 12-month suspended sentence for two years in the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday.

He is Nelson Quarrie, a 47-year-old labourer of Copacabana, St Andrew, who was charged with obtaining money by means of false pretence.

When Quarrie appeared before Resident Magistrate Crescenda Brown, he told the court that he collected $15,000 from a 'client', who was led to believe he was indeed an attorney. He was told to return to court on October 9, when three other counts of similar nature would again be mentioned.

Allegation are that on April 4, Quarrie was held at the Spanish Town Shopping Centre. This was after police received reports of Quarrie pretending to be a lawyer, and collecting money from unsuspected persons.

Checks made at the General Legal Council revealed that he was not an attorney-at-law. Quarrie is being represented by attorney-at-law Akin J. Adaramaja.