Court jails Tuko editor Didacus Malowa
Didacus Malowa will spend five days in jail.
Tuko editor Didacus Malowa put in jail for five days for allegedly declining to comply with court orders on a story published online concerning the National Youth Service (NYS) graft scandal.
Magistrate Eunice Nyutu has sentenced the editor for contempt without bail for failing to publish an apology over alleged misreporting of the case.
The magistrate accused the editor of not complying with orders issued to Tuko to apologise and retract a story.
His lawyer wanted court to suspend the sentence on grounds that the matter is in at the High Court for review of the initial order of fining the editor Sh50,000.
"The matter is touching on contempt of court which I take seriously as it touches on criminal defamation. I request the court to suspends it's orders. We have a review application touching on the same matter," said the lawyer.
On apology, he stated that the issue was beyond the editor's role. The court heard that Mr Malowa is a junior editor and was already traumatised.
It is an order to be handled by management, he stated.
The lawyer also stated that the online news channel is not an entity but a webhost.
"Even if we say go serve tuko.co.ke that is not a person it is a host. It is not a legal entity and is a non-existence entity," said the lawyer.
The magistrate also ordered for the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) to appear in court over the same allegations of misreporting.
