The Managing Editor of The Herald newspaper, Larry Dogbe, has been sentenced to seven days’ imprisonment for contempt of court after an Accra High Court found that he breached an injunction restricting publications relating to businessman Kevin Okyere.
Presiding judge, Justice Isaac Addo handed down the sentence on Thursday, June 25, following contempt proceedings brought by Mr. Okyere, the Chief Executive of Springfield Exploration and Production.
The application alleged that Mr. Dogbe and The Herald violated a subsisting court order restraining further publications considered harmful to Mr. Okyere’s reputation.
The contempt proceedings arose from an application filed in the High Court’s General Jurisdiction Division, in which Mr. Okyere sought an order committing the journalist for allegedly disobeying the court’s injunction.
According to the Mr. Okyere’s written submissions, the injunction prohibited Mr. Dogbe from publishing statements intended to undermine or tarnish Mr. Okyere’s reputation pending the determination of the substantive case.
Mr. Okyere’s legal team argued that The Herald subsequently published a number of reports in breach of that order.
The application cited several headlines and articles that allegedly associated the businessman with fraud and bad faith commercial dealings, which Mr. Okyere said damaged his reputation within the petroleum industry and in the eyes of the general public.
The lawyers argued that the publications demonstrated a deliberate disregard for a valid court order.
Mr. Dogbe opposed the application, reportedly arguing that he had no knowledge of the injunction at the time the publications were made.
He also challenged the authenticity and admissibility of some of the documents relied upon by the applicant.
