Court gavelA light moment occurred in bail proceedings for former Nairobi Central OCS Samson Talaam and five co-accused when High Court judge Diana Kavedza told a defence lawyer to “stop dancing” before addressing the court.
The six are facing charges over the murder of blogger Albert Ojwang and are being held at Nairobi Remand Prison.
On Thursday, September 11, they appeared virtually before Justice Kavedza, who was expected to give directions on their bail applications.
Talaam was represented by lawyers Danstan Omari, Stanley Kinyanjui, and Shadrack Wambui, while the other accused had separate counsel, except for the second accused, James Mukhwana, who had no legal representation on record.
As virtual proceedings were about to start, the defence lawyer appeared on screen and sought to introduce himself to the court.
At the time, he appeared to be rhythmically nodding his head, prompting Justice Kavedza to interject, “Stop dancing.”
The exchange came before another interruption, when the lawyer's virtual background suddenly filled the session with loud music as he was preparing to provide his contact details for the court registry.
Justice Kavedza quickly cut him short: “Hiyo muziki niaje? You are putting music at the wrong time. Mute. Your environment is not conducive. Write to Kibera your email address for sharing of the information,” she said firmly.
Despite the light moment, the session carried out further directions.
Justice Kavedza noted that the ruling on the bail applications, initially scheduled for September 26, could not be delivered as planned.
She proposed delivering the ruling either physically or virtually on September 29 or 30.
Omari, speaking on behalf of Talaam, requested the court to deliver the ruling physically, arguing that the decision should be open to the public.
“The public would have wanted a physical ruling,” he told the court.
The judge agreed, settling on September 30 at midday for the ruling to be delivered in open court, and also issued a production order for the accused to be presented in court.
