A Kenyan woman who was publicly humiliated after staff at one of the capital’s top hotels accused her of being a prostitute has been awarded KShs3m (UShs112m) in damages.
Winfred Njoki Clarke took the five-star Intercontinental Hotel, in Nairobi, to court two decades after they labeled her “a woman of questionable moral conduct” in front of other customers, according to the Nairobi News.
Clarke was accused of being a prostitute after ordering a beer for herself and a friend.
She was then escorted from the premises and handed over the police, who kept her in custody for two days.
Hotel staff had jumped to the incorrect conclusion after she arrived at the hotel without a man, planning to meet a female friend for a drink.
According to local news site Hivisasa, staff told her she was required 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 KShs2m (UShs75m).
The attorney general, the judge added, must pay another million shillings in compensation.
