Standard Group Ordered To Pay Ksh6.5M To Ex-Police Officer

The court also issued a mandatory injunction for the defendants in the case to write, print and publish an apology.

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Aug 23, 2023 - 20:41
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Standard Group Ordered To Pay Ksh6.5M To Ex-Police Officer
A photo collage of former Police Officer Linda Okello (Left) and Standard Group PLC (Right) headquarters. /FILE.STANDARD DIGITAL

Former traffic police officer Linda Okello who went viral close to nine years ago has been awarded Ksh6.5 million in damages, having won a defamation case against Standard Group Limited.

A High Court sitting in Nairobi on Wednesday, August 23 accused the Mombasa Road-based media house, an editor of its subsidiary, Nairobian Newspaper, and a Writer of defaming Okello by publishing an article that degraded her public image by using photos she had shared on her social media pages without her consent.

The former police officer filed the civil case at the High Court in Nairobi in 2014, seeking among other things, general damages for libel, aggravated and exemplary damages, and an injunction restraining the Standard Group and its journalists from putting up defamatory publications against her. 

Outside the Milimani Law Courts. /FILE

Justice Asenath Nyaboke Ongeri granted her wishes as well as barred Standard Group PLC and its employees from publishing defamatory words or innuendo similar to what was published in the Nairobian newspaper.

"Judgment be and is hereby entered in favour of the plaintiff against the defendants jointly and severally in the sum of Ksh6,500,000 together with costs of this suit and interests at court rates from the date of this judgment until payment in full," Justice Ongeri ruled.

The court also issued a mandatory injunction for the defendants in the case to write, print and publish an apology.

Okello was represented in the case by a lawyer and Kisumu Senator Tom Ojienda, who reacted to the court ruling against the newspaper which tarnished her reputation by way of publishing her image.

"We have just won an award of Ksh6.5 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," he said in a statement on Twitter.

Okello went viral nationwide in 2014 when she was pictured on duty wearing a seemingly tight skirt, considered immoral in her profession, leaving Kenyans confused on social media.

In 2016, the former police officer was demoted from corporal to constable following a crackdown on bribe-taking police officers in Kiambu County, and afterwards, she sued former police boss Joseph Boinnet for wrongful dismissal.

"Okello was not given enough time to prepare her evidence. This was totally unprocedural as it violates the right to a fair hearing," her lawyer told the court.

The former traffic officer joined the service in 2003 when she was posted to Kisii before being transferred to the Kiambu County traffic division in 2009.

Okello now lives in the United States (US) in an upscale neighbourhood, an example of Kenyans living better lives in the American nation than back at home while chasing the American dream.

Linda Okello posing for a photo in the United States (US) on June 1, 2023. /LINDA OKELLO

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