The respondent, who was at the time the only lawful wife of Mr Chesire, instituted a suit against the appellant in defamation claiming that the picture and the caption had been understood to mean that she was not the legal wife of Mr Chesire, that she was a person of loose morals, a concubine who posed as Mr Chesire’s wife and a person unfit for her profession of school mistress. The appellant published a picture in its newspaper in which it depicted a certain lady at a social event with a caption running underneath it which described her as the wife of a certain Mr Chesire, while in actual fact she was not. (Appeal from the High Court at Nairobi, Chesoni J)ĭefamation - libel - proof of libel - actions of libel by innuendo - proof of - special circumstances for proof of libel by innuendo - extrinsic facts - existence ofĭefamation - damages for - quantum of - assessment of - factors to be taken into consideration in assessment - powers of the appellate court where the damages are excessive or too low so as to be erroneous Nation Newspapers Limited v Lydia Chesire eKLR James Onyiego Nyarangi, Alan Robin Winston Hancox, Alister Arthur Kneller Mbitiru leaves behind a widow, Wanja and two sons, Njihia and Nyaga.Nation Newspapers Limited v Lydia Chesire
“That gesture showed what a truly nice man he was,” said Selsky. "More than that, he was one of the sweetest, most tolerant men I have ever known.”Īndrew Selsky, who had worked on AP's international desk and later was Africa Editor, said that Mbitiru had kindly sent him a Swahili-English dictionary. “He was the go-to guy for background information about Kenya, its politics, history, customs and more,” said Miller.
Miller, former East African bureau chief. Mbitiru was an invaluable member of AP's Nairobi team, said Reid G. “Some of the best books on my Africa bookshelf were recommended by him.” “He would always mix his smart, many times sarcastic, comments about the news with a chat that would connect the extraordinary events that raged across Africa in the mid-90s with conflicts in Latin America,” said Ricardo Mazalan, the East Africa chief photographer in the mid-1990s.
His calm demeanor and charm was always an anchor in trying times,” said Terry Leonard, who was an AP correspondent in Nairobi from 1994 to 1996. We worked closely together during the intervention in Somalia and the genocide in Rwanda. “Chege was a good friend and colleague who, with a wry sense of humor, taught the rest of us about Africa. Returning to Kenya he worked for the Kenya News Agency and later for the Daily Nation newspaper as foreign editor and then managing editor before joining the AP.ĭuring his time at AP he is remembered for his humor and friendly way of sharing his deep knowledge of East Africa and the continent. and after graduating from Ohio University he worked for the Sandusky Register in Ohio and the Saginaw News in Michigan. When Mbitiru finished high school he went to the U.S. Mbitiru was born in Kijabe on the edge of the Great Rift Valley, about 30 miles northwest of Nairobi, that had been founded in 1903 by American missionaries of the Africa Inland Mission.