Ex-cop Linda Okello awarded Ksh.6.5 million in damages over viral photo

The High Court in Nairobi has awarded former police officer Linda Okello Ksh.6.5 million in damages in a case where she sued the Standard Media Group for a photo published in 2014.

Ms Okello sued the media house, its subsidiary publication The Nairobian, and two of its journalists for publishing a side profile photo of the policewoman on duty in a tight skirt.

Through her lawyer Tom Ojienda, she accused the media house of improperly degrading her by the improper sharing of her image and likeness and the use of her image for commercial gain and or publicity.

In a ruling dated August 17, Justice Asenath Ongeri ordered Standard Group, The Nairobian newspaper, Pkemoi Ngenoh and Charles Otieno to pay Okello Ksh.6.5 million for defamation.

“Judgment be and is hereby entered in favour of the plaintiff against the defendants jointly and severally in the sum of Kshs. Six million, five hundred thousand shillings (6,500,000) together with costs of this suit and interest at court rates from the date of this judgment until payment in full,” court papers read.

Okello’s photo at the time caused a stir on social media as Kenyans weighed in on the appropriateness of her dressing. She also became the subject of memes widely circulated online.

Two years later, in 2016, the then corporal was demoted to a constable over allegations of graft during a crackdown on bribe-taking police officers in Kiambu County.

Okello as a result sued the then police Inspector General Joseph Boinnet for wrongful demotion. She claimed she was never given an opportunity to respond.

The former cop, whose lawyer at the time was also Prof Ojienda, said she joined the police force in May 2003, carrying out general duties in Kisii after training at Kiganjo Police College.

She was promoted to the rank of corporal in 2008 and later joined the Traffic Department in 2009 and was posted to Kiambu.

Okello has since quit the police force and relocated to the United States.