Ex-marathoner awarded Sh3.7m for defamation

A former Olympic long-distance champion, a reporter and a media house have been ordered to pay former marathoner Abraham Kipkosgei Chelang’a a total of Sh3.7 million for defamation.

Iten Senior Principal Magistrate Charles Kutwa ruled that Chelang’a had proved his case against former multiple Olympic 5,000m and 10,000m world champion Vivian Cheruiyot, Eldoret-based Standard newspaper writer Stephen Ruto and the Standard Media Group.

The case arose from a story published between the 10th and 16th of February 2023 in the Nairobian newspaper and the Standard website, both owned by the Standard Media Group.

“From the foregoing, I find that the plaintiff has proved that he was defamed by the defendants by their publication of the story and with the aforesaid, the court is now left to determine the prayers sought in the plaint,” Kutwa said in his ruling.

Cheruiyot, in a story published in The Nairobian, accused Chelang’a of rocking her marriage by leading her husband astray.

She also claimed Chelang’a had leaked information to her husband’s estranged wife, a former Kenyan international marathoner who now works for the Prisons Service.

’Driven by malice’

The magistrate ruled that Sh3 million is for general damages, Sh500,000 for aggravated damages, and Sh200,000 for damages in lieu of an apology.

“I have, in awarding this sum, considered that the defendants did not republish that defamatory story concerning the plaintiff in any of their subsequent publications,” Katwa said.

“I also award the plaintiff costs of this suit and interest on damage and costs at court rates from the date of this judgment until payment in full.”

Chelang’a had sought Sh6 million for general damages and Sh2 million for aggravated damages.

He claimed that the defendants were driven by malice and circulated the articles in order to cause harm to him in society.

The retired marathoner said the articles had attracted several comments in Kenya and abroad.

He argued that the words used were understood to mean that he was corrupt, a pimp, a thief and a conman.

He said the words were defamatory and had lowered his reputation and that some people had shunned and avoided him. As a result of the publication of the articles, he argued, his character, credibility and reputation had been injured.