The Managing Editor of the Herald Newspaper, Larry Dogbe, has filed an appeal challenging the seven-day custodial term imposed on him by a High Court.
He is asking the Court of Appeal to set aside his conviction and sentence, and declare the interlocutory injunction order void, or substitute the custodial sentence with a non-custodial one.
Grounds
The appellant contended that the trial judge ought not to have granted the injunction in the first place.
The appellant further contended that the order itself was vague and incapable of clear compliance, noting that the trial judge had acknowledged the wording as "vague" in the judgment yet proceeded to convict him for breaching it.
He is also challenging the trial court's application of the standard of proof in contempt proceedings, arguing that contempt is quasi-criminal in nature and must be proved beyond reasonable doubt, and that the judge wrongly shifted the burden onto the appellant to prove the truth of his publications.
The appellant also argued that his publications were based on a Supreme Court decision in Stena Unicon Offshore Services Ghana Limited v Springfield Exploration and Production Limited & Anor, which was delivered on February 11, 2026, as well as official documents from the Economic and Organised Crime Office and the Ministry of Energy.
He contended that convicting a journalist-linked defendant for reporting on a Supreme Court decision and public documents amounted to an unconstitutional gag order, contrary to Articles 162 and 165 of the 1992 Constitution, which guarantee media freedom.
Background
The High Court, presided over by Justice Isaac Addo, imposed the custodial sentence on the journalist after finding him guilty of disregarding an injunction order restraining publication against businessman Kevin Okyere pending the final determination of a defamation suit.
In the ruling, the court held that the publications by Mr Dogbe despite the pending injunction order constituted disobedience of the orders of the court, which brought the court into disrepute and amounted to an affront to the administration of justice.
The contempt application filed by Mr Okyere, the CEO of Springfield Group, an integrated energy company, stemmed from a defamation suit the businessman filed against the publishers of the Herald newspaper, Mr Dogbe and others.
After the defamation suit, the businessman applied for an injunction order which was granted by the court, restraining the continued publication of defamatory statements against Mr Okyere by the defendants pending the determination of the substantive suit.
Mr Okyere contended in his application for contempt that despite the clear orders of the court regarding the injunction, which were lawfully brought to the attention of Mr Dogbe and others, The Herald continued to publish defamatory statements against him.
He deposed in his affidavit in support of the contempt application that the continued publication by The Herald constituted blatant disregard for the orders of the court.
"The actions of the Respondent is calculated to bring the Court to disrepute by showing to the entire world that the order(s) of the Court may be disregarded especially when the party is aware of the order having participated in the proceedings, and by so doing in sending a message publicly that the Respondent herein is not subject to the processes of the Court and has no regard to judicial process," he averred.
Response
In his response, Mr Dogbe opposed the application, arguing that he was not aware of the injunction order at the time the publications were made. He further challenged the admissibility of some of the documentary evidence filed by Mr Okyere.
However, in its ruling, the court found merit in the application for contempt, convicted the journalist, and consequently imposed a custodial sentence on him.
