A Nairobi court has ordered a leading media house to pay a former police officer Sh6.5 million in a defamation case.
In a judgment handed by High Court judge Asenath Nyaboke on August 17, 2023, the court ordered the Nairobian newspaper, owned by the Standard Group, to pay Linda Okello and two others the said amount
“Judgment be and is hereby entered in favour of the plaintiff against the defendants jointly and severally in the sum of six million, five hundred thousand shillings (6,500,000) together with costs of this suit and interest at court rates from the date of judgment until payment in full, “Justice Ongeri said in his ruling.
According to Linda Okello’s lawyer Professor Tom Ojieda, his client won the case after she moved to court and sued the media house moving of improperly sharing of her image and likeness.
“We have just won an award of 6.5 Million for Linda Okello a former police officer improperly degraded by the improper sharing of her image and likeness and the use of her image for commercial gain and or publicity,” Ms Okello’s lawyer, Prof Ojienda said through social media.
The case was filed in 2014 and sought general, aggravated, and exemplary damages for defamation from the four defendants.
The ex-cop had also asked the court to issue a permanent injunction restraining the defendants, whether by themselves, their agents, and/or employees, from publishing defamatory words or innuendos similar in effect and/or content.
Linda Okello dominated the country’s headlines in 2014, when she was pictured performing her duty while on a tight skirt that was considered immodest in her profession, and went viral as Kenyans took to Twitter to express their bewilderment.
In a turn of events, Ms Okello was demoted from corporal to constable following a crackdown on bribe-taking police officers in Kiambu County.
Following the move, she sued then Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinet for wrongful dismissal.
The former traffic cop joined the service in 2003 when she was posted to Kisii before being transferred to the Traffic Department in 2009 to Kiambu County. She relocated to the US.
