BY SAM ALFAN.
A Nairobi resident has filed application seeking to set aside orders barring the media from publishing details on the investigations into the murder of tycoon Tob Cohen.
The directive issued last month gagged the Director of Criminal Investigation, prosecution, defense and victims from addressing the media on the investigations and evidence or any other information touching on the murder of businessman.
Under certificate of urgency, Jeremiah Ocharo Memba through lawyer Shadrack Wambui told Justice Jessie Lesiit that the restriction to the media to refrain from publishing any information touching on the murder is so generalized and has gagged the media to the detriment of the greater public, which largely depend on the media as a source of information.
Ocharo urged the court to review or set aside orders issued on September 16, gagging the media from publishing details if investigation, evidence or any other information touching in the murder case.
He said thorugh lawyer Shadrack Wambui that the order was issued without the participation or the involvement of the media house representatives thus rendering as meaningless the rules of natural justice.
He further argued that many Kenyans and the world continue to rely on the media to keep them updated on the proceedings of this case. “It is of general importance that information of the perpetrators is revealed, every detail of the proceedings disclosed and crime is punished as a seal of disapproval of criminal conduct and all its manifestations,” he argued.
He submitted that the trial of Sarah Wairimu, who has denied murdering her husband, is about to commence.
Justice Lesiit will rule on the matter on October 30.
