A judge at the Milimani law courts has asked the Law Society of Kenya to discipline advocate Harrison Kinyanjui after he caused a scene outside his chambers on Thursday.
The lawyer apologised to the court over the incident. “I very much regret the impression created that I wanted to interfere with the proceedings of justice Ngaa in the morning of 30 September 2021,” he said.
In a brief ruling, the judge called on LSK to take appropriate steps as is necessary to protect the integrity and nobility of the profession.
According to the court ruling, Kinyanjui was at the reception of the judge's chambers seeking to see him at 10am over a child case.
The judge says he got the information from his secretary, Jane Kathure, who informed him that Kinyanjui was at the reception crying.
“I told my secretary to inform counsel that I do not conduct court sessions with advocates in chambers,” he said.
The judge indicates that when Kinyanjui was told that he could not see him, he started crying loudly creating a scene at the reception. He made remarks such as, “Why can’t I be allowed to see the judge, yet he has made orders against me"?
At this point, the judge asked the deputy registrar to call the security to remove him from the reception but Kinyanjui had left before the security officers were deployed.
“I am not sure what the learned counsel was up to but I must express my reservations about his conduct, which to say the least, is deplorable,” he said.
“I direct the deputy registrar to make this ruling available to the Law Society of Kenya to rein in its members and, at any rate, take such appropriate steps as is necessary to protect the integrity and nobility of the profession,” he added.
Kinyanjui has since written a letter to the deputy registrar, judicial review division apologising to the judge.
He says when he sought to speak to the secretary about 10am, the deputy registrar was not present and had not arrived when he called in. He says there was an issue he wanted to clarify as to what time his application would be heard.
In the application before the judge, Kinyanjui sought to have it certified as urgent. He also sought to have an order made on September 29 suspending the gag order in the children’s court case (E039 of 2021) set aside.
Tabbyrose Wanja Wamwitha had prior to Kinyanjui’s application sought to suspend gag orders issued by principal magistrate GM Gitonga at the children’s court dated January 28. The order barred anyone from accessing, commenting on and discussing the matters pertaining to the case.
But the judge Ngaa in his ruling said the application by Kinyanjui was made on the premises that proceedings had taken place and orders made by his court on September 29. "As the record would show there were no court proceedings or any order made on this particular date,” he said.
The judge said the matter was last in court on September 19 and the court directed the same to be mentioned on October 25 for directions.
“In these circumstances, I do not find any reason to certify the application dated September 30 as urgent. The same shall be mentioned for further directions on October 25 when the main suit is scheduled to be mentioned,” he said.
Kinyanjui asked the court to accept his sincerest apologies as he was rather distressed at the moment referred to. "The orders issued on the matter would adversely affect my son, subject of the court proceedings in Nairobi children’s court case No. E039 of 2021, and being so exposed and being human I wanted to know the time the application would be heard,” he said.
