A court has awarded Sh100,000 to a man who was arrested and held in police custody for 22 hours.
High Court judge Weldon Korir ruled that the arrest of Stanley Magare was a violation of his constitutional rights and awarded him the amount as compensation for loss of liberty.
Magare, a car parts trader, had sued for Sh5 million but the Judge found that Sh100,000 was adequate.
“It is noted the petitioner was held for less than a day. In my view, an award of Sh100,000 should be adequate compensation. That is the amount I award him as general damages for the unlawful loss of liberty,” Korir ruled on June 4.
Officers from the Anti-Counterfeit Agency had arrested the plaintiff on December 20, 2017, for allegedly being in possession of counterfeit goods. He was held for more than 22 hours but released the next day, December 21, 2017, at 10.20 am without being charged.
In turn, Magare sued the anti-counterfeit agency, the OCS of the Central police station in Nairobi and the Inspector General of Police for violating his rights.
He submitted that his release after being held for more than 24 hours without any charges being preferred is sufficient demonstration his arrest and detention were unlawful, grounded on pure malice and tantamount to detention without trial.
The plaintiff had argued that the actions of the police caused a serious disruption to his business, causing heavy losses.
“His arrest violated his rights as protected by Article 29(a) of the Constitution. He is, therefore, entitled to relief,” the judge ruled.
