A court has rejected an attempt to summon a senior ‘Standard’ editor over a story on death threats allegedly issued to a journalist.

Nakuru Chief Magistrate Wilbroda Juma yesterday turned down Gilgil Hills Academy Director Isaac Waithaka Kamunya’s application to have the Managing Editor of The Standard on Sunday summoned in court.

Yesterday, when the corruption case came up for hearing, the magistrate rejected a second application by Kamunya’s lawyers to order mobile phone service provider Safaricom to provide data of calls made on two days in March by two prosecution witnesses.

In her ruling, she said the article the newspaper carried on April 11 on death threats to Kiprotich did not contain any new evidence.

"The court cannot stop an aggrieved party from reporting threats to the police," she said.

Provide data

The magistrate also declined to order Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph to provide data on phone calls made on two mobile phones belonging to prosecution witnesses.

"The defence did not inform the court on any law that required it to grant such orders," she said.

Earlier, Kamunya’s lawyers Ndeke Gatimu and Reuben Ndubi had applied that the court summons the editor to explain why the article was published. Mr Ndubi said they had raised the issue of unfair reporting on March 17.

"We expected the media to report court proceedings only, but they carried a story insinuating our client was behind the threats," he said.

Ndubi also told the court he had written to Mr Joseph requesting data on the calls made between March 9 and 13.

The case was adjourned after the defence lawyers said they required time to go through transcripts of an audio recording between Kamunya and Kiprotich.

The charges against Kamunya state that he corruptly offered an unspecified amount of money to Kiprotich on December 1 last year, at the ‘Standard’ offices in Nakuru to stop him from publishing the story.

He faces a second count of corruptly offering Sh20,000 to the journalist on March 12 through an agent, Mr Michael Rotich Tuitoek.

The third charge states that on March 13 at Nakuru’s Stem Hotel, he corruptly offered Kiprotich Sh70,000 to stop him from publishing the article. The case will be heard on June 18.

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