Accra: Renowned broadcaster and private legal practitioner Samson Lardy Anyenini has reacted to the conviction and sentencing of journalist and managing editor of The Herald Newspaper, Larry Dogbey. The High Court in Accra, presided over by Justice Isaac Addo, on Thursday, June 25, 2026, convicted Dogbey for contempt of court in a case involving businessman Kevin Okyere and multinational company Petraco SA, after The Herald published an article about the businessman despite an injunction order.
According to Ghana Web, Samson Lardy asserted that the court judgment was apt, arguing that The Herald was at fault because it participated in the injunction hearing and was also appropriately served with the injunction order by the court. In a statement shared on Facebook, Anyenini mentioned, "I am still pushing to review the full ruling, but having now scrutinised the formal court filings that precipitated this conviction, the legal reality is stark. By the text of the processes filed before the High Court, Larry appears to have left the bench with virtually no choice but to uphold the application for contempt against him."
He further argued that there is clear evidence that the media house was served with the injunction notice on the matter. "The failure of avoidance: Even when personal service proved elusive, the law found its way. The court granted an order for substituted service, which was systematically executed. The injunction order and its accompanying ominous Penal Notice were posted on the court's notice board, published in the Ghanaian Times on October 20, 2025, and explicitly delivered directly to his known WhatsApp lines. He was a man fully, legally notified that he was restrained from publishing any material intended to tarnish the applicant's reputation pending the trial - a case in which he is a defendant," Anyenini noted.
He added that despite the court order, the media house published articles about Kevin Okyere, including an article asserting that a UK court had threatened Okyere with an arrest warrant over a $29 million fraud charge. Additionally, The Herald ran a front-page feature proclaiming, "Kevin Okyere returns with a USD 94 million fraud albatross," and published a deceptive layout ostensibly about a Ghanaian football star detained in Dubai, which instead prominently featured Okyere's photograph with a headline declaring he had been granted $20 million bail in Dubai and barred from leaving the Emirates.