A top Nairobi hotel has been ordered to pay a lady Sh. 3 million for labeling her as a commercial sex worker.
The Inter Continental Hotel will pay the amount to Winfred Njoki Clarke.
Apparently, Ms. Njoki had gone to the five-star Intercontinental Hotel in Nairobi on March 19, 1998, to have a drink with a friend.
But when she tried to order drinks at the bar, she was refused service on the basis that she was not accompanied by a man.
In court papers, she said she was dismissed as a prostitute and assaulted by a security guard who threw her out of the hotel.
Ms. Njoki was then arrested and was detained for two days without any charges being filed before she was released.
She sued the Intercontinental Hotel, as well as the attorney general, for defamation and unlawful detention.
Now, more than two decades after the night in question, a judge ordered the hotel for pay Sh. 2 million (£14,775) to Ms Njoki. The attorney general was also ordered to pay her another Sh. 1 million (£7,387), bringing the total owed to her as compensation to Sh. 3 million.
In the ruling, Justice Msaga Mboghoki found that by being label a prostiture, Ms. Njoki’s reputation was tainted. She was also reported to have been dragged out of the hotel leading to her arrest and unlawful detention, occurrences that ended up tainting her image.
The ruling also noted that these actions by the top hotel amounted to great humiliation and embarrassment.
