•Nyutu had sentenced Malowa to six months in jail or a fine of Sh50,000 and TUKO was ordered to publish an apology.
•The court heard Malowa was traumatized as a result of the matter and his lawyer said he has carried enough weight on his shoulders.
Image: FILE
A Nairobi magistrate has yet again jailed the TUKO media editor for failing to publish an apology on an alleged NYS misleading story done in March this year.
Magistrate Eunice Nyutu on Tuesday sentenced Didacus Malowa to five days behind bars with no alternative of fine.
On Monday last week, the court found Malowa to be in contempt for publishing an alleged misleading story in the NYS case where former PS Lilian Omollo is charged with graft.
Nyutu had sentenced Malowa to six months in jail or a fine of Sh 50,000 and TUKO was ordered to publish an apology.
However, when TUKO came to court yesterday it said the management had not apologised yet because there are two pending cases before the high court challenging her sentence.
TUKO asked the court to suspend the orders of apologising pending hearing and determination of the cases at the high court.
The court heard Malowa was traumatized as a result of the matter and his lawyer said he has carried enough weight on his shoulders.
The lawyer urged the court to discharge Malowa from the case arguing that he is too junior to effect the order on an apology because that’s a management issue.
In their submissions to the court, KUJ through lawyer Ibrahim Oduor said they had filed an application at the judicial review seeking an interpretation of how contempt of court proceedings should be handled.
“We ask you to suspend the proceeds before you as we wait for the decisions,” Oduor said.
The prosecution opposed the application for suspension of orders saying there are no stay orders so the case should not be stayed.
Tuko further submitted that if they apologize, it will open doors for accused persons in the matter to file defamation cases against media houses.
The cases before the high court will be heard next week and all parties have been served.
In her short ruling, Nyutu declined to suspend the case or discharge Malowa from the case saying her orders were disobeyed by TUKO.
She said the only cure for contempt of court is to purge it by apologising which he did not do.
She sentenced him to serve five days in custody for failing to obey court orders.
KBC editor in Chief has also been ordered to appear in court on Wednesday morning to answer to contempt of court claims by the court.
She was supposed to come to court today but her lawyer Shadrack Wambui said the summons issued were not clear on who was supposed to heed the said summons.