City lawyer Cecil Miller has sued iFreedoms Kenya editor Shitemi Khamadi over coverage of court cases. Miller has several cases against Jackson Njeru (also sued as the first respondent with Shitemi) and Jacqueline Okuta ranging from child custody with Okuta to defamation and contempt of court with Njeru.
In the case, children’s case no. 1114 of 2012, Shitemi and Njeru are sued for contempt of court. Cecil, through Lilian Amere Machio & Company Advocates alleges that the two are in contempt of a directive by the court gagging media from publishing the case, pending hearing and determining of the case.
The case arose when Miller took Jacqueline to court over child custody, asking the court for help determine the paternity of the child Okuta claimed to be his. In the ensuing dynamics of the case, Njeru helped bring the issues to the fore through Social Media, thereby becoming embroiled in the cases.
In these cases, Miller always gets gagging orders against publishing the stories even when the court cases are open to the public.
In this specific case, the story written by Shitemi was published after the court made a ruling on a previous contempt of court case against Mr. Njeru. Moreover, the gagging orders forbade Njeru and his associates or agents from publishing the story. Mr. Shitemi was not and has never been part of the cases.
Miller also alleges that iFreedoms Kenya is the property of Mr. Shitemi.
Other than the children’s case, Miller has previously used section 29 of the Kenya Information and Communications Act and section 132 of the Penal Code and when all were declared unconstitutional, he shifted to defamation to sue Okuta and Njeru.
The hearing for the case has been set for 7th December at the Children Court from 9.00am.
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