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Council boss
jailed for contempt
Story by JILLO KADIDA
Publication Date: 12/15/2005
Narok county council chief was
yesterday sent to jail for six months for contempt of court.
High Court judge Jacktone Boma
Ojwang' delivered his verdict at 1.27pm and sent Stanislas Ondimu
to start his new life at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison.
The judge said: "This is an
important matter. I must send out clearest message that the
authority of the court must be respected."
Ondimu, who was found to have
evicted seven squatters from the Mau Narok forest despite an order
stopping the council from the action, presented himself in court
after the judge issued a warrant of arrest against him on Tuesday.
The warrant was issued after he
failed to appear in court three times following the summons. He
was said to be sick.
In his earlier judgment, the judge
also declared null and void the evictions since June 3 when the
order took effect.
Mr Justice Ojwang' had held that a
court order is the "ultimate expression of the judicial
mandate and is binding".
He had added: "The moment the
High Court's order was issued and then served upon the defendant,
it was binding, and disobedience to it cannot be countenanced by
this court".
The ruling arose from an
application filed by seven people against the council for
allegedly evicting them despite a court injunction.
In their suit papers, they had said
the council disobeyed a court order granted by Mr Justice Philip
Ransley on June 2.
The council, with the help of the
district commissioner, they noted, had been harassing,
intimidating and threatening them as well as demolishing their
properties in Narok South, formerly Enkaroni and Enekishomi group
ranches.
Yesterday, Ondimu pleaded with the
court for mercy saying he was not directly involved in the
eviction exercise.
"I present my self before this
court due to the respect I have for the court. Please, my lord,
accept my apologies and lift the warrant of arrest," Ondimu
pleaded through his lawyer S. Macharia.
The lawyer also made an application
to allow his client to be granted an adjournment to appear in
court this morning to show cause why he should not be jailed. But
the judge declined saying the matter has been heard in substance
and determined.
All this time, Ondimu sat with his
head down staring at a white envelope which he was holding in his
right hand.
Then there was a moment of silence
before the judge ordered Ondimu to stand up and tell the court
what he did to correct the wrong done.
Ondimu, who appeared shaken, stood
up and was sworn by the court clerk before he could present his
defence.
He said he had no personal
interests to evict the seven.
He also denied having ordered the
evictions.
"The impression created in
this court is that I personally participated in the evictions.
This is wrong. Whether Ondimu was there or not, whatever has
happened would have still happened," Ondimu said.
SOURCE
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