A Kenyan woman who was publicly humiliated after staff of one of Nairobi’s top hotels accused her of being a prostitute has been awarded US$30,000 in damages.
Winfred Njoki Clarke took the Intercontinental Hotel to court two decades after they labelled her “a woman of questionable moral conduct” in front of other customers, local media outlet Nairobi News reports.
She was afterwards thrown out of the premises and handed over to the police, who then kept her in custody for two days.
Hotel staff jumped into the incorrect conclusion after she arrived at the hotel without company, planning to meet a female friend for a drink.
Reports indicate that Clarke was told by the staff to pay a “cover charge” because she was a woman by herself.
When she questioned it, they threw her out – causing her, according to High Court judge Mbogholi Msagha, “great humiliation and embarrassment”.
Judge Msagha said she was within her rights to question the charge, as he ruled the hotel – which accused Ms Clarke of making a scene – must pay US$20,000.
The attorney general, the judge added, must pay another US$10,000 in compensation.
