A Nation Media Group (NMG) journalist has vowed to go to the Court of Appeal after what he termed a miscarriage of justice in a case pitting him against a police officer.
In a report by the Daily Nation on Tuesday, February 4, Justus Ochieng complained that while the court ruled in his favour, the damages had instead been channelled to Attorney-General Paul Kihara who was the respondent in the case.
Ochieng's woes began when he wrote a news article that painted a DCI officer as a rogue criminal extorting money from his victims.
The piece was titled "Mystery over The Return of Cop's Stolen Money" and published on October 1, 2014, authored by the journalist who wrote for The Star newspaper that time.
It was based on a report by a member of the public who claimed that he had been robbed by a DCI officer based in Kisumu Central Police Station.
After publishing another article calling for the arrest of the detective, Ochieng' started receiving threats to his life from unknown people.
He reported the matter at Kisumu Central Police Station on October 8, 2014, but when he attempted to follow-up on the case, he alleged that he was arrested and detained overnight.
Ochieng' told the court that while in custody, he was tortured and treated in an inhumane and degrading manner, all without being informed as to why he was under arrest.
After his release, he reported the torture to Nyando Police Station on October 30, 2014, but the fingered officers were neither arrested nor charged.
Kisumu High Court Judge Thripsis Cherere on Friday, January 31, found that the scribe's constitutional rights were violated after two witnesses corroborated the allegations of torture.
"I am persuaded that the petitioner has demonstrated the element of force used to inflict pain on his body which amounts to torture and is entitled to some relief," she ruled.
However, the court awarded his Ksh100,000 instead of the Ksh15 million he sought.
The journalist, through his lawyer Owino Kojo has promised to head to the Court of Appeal to call for the rogue officer to be arrested and justice to be served.
