• Mariangella Beltrami, a director of the luxurious Karen Blixen Bar and Restaurant, filed the suit before the Malindi resident magistrate.
• She says Mtwapa Bay Investments Limited, Elizabertta Bertoni and Roberto Marini initiated the eviction process, despite a restraining court order issued on December 28 last year.
An Italian Investor in Malindi has sued her landlord for contempt after a court stopped her eviction from a building in the resort town.
Mariangella Beltrami, a director of the luxurious Karen Blixen Bar and Restaurant, filed the suit before Chief Magistrate William Chepseba, saying Mtwapa Bay Investments Limited, Elizabertta Bertoni and Roberto Marini initiated the eviction process, despite a restraining court order issued on December 28 last year.
The case was filed under a certificate of urgency by lawyer Jimmy Ochoki. Karen Blixen is a popular restaurant located along Lamu Road. It is frequented by tourists.
The restaurant was to remain in operation pending the conclusion of a case filed by the complainant. Beltrami, in her application, said the authority, respect and integrity of the court orders were being undermined by the respondents.
"If the present situation is allowed to prevail and the respondents heard on any issue without complying with the orders already issued, there will be total chaos in the administration of justice, and the plaintiff/applicants will suffer irreparable loss, while the defendants will benefit out of their wrongdoing," the lawyer said.
Beltrami said that together with her husband Roberto Ciarolella, they have been running the business as directors since 2009 and entered a lease agreement with Mtwapa Bay Investment Limited through the directors Roberto Marini and Elizabetta Bertoni at a monthly rent of Sh50,000.
And on August 20, 2015, they agreed to buy the premises they had rented, she said. It included sections A and B, Shops 5 and 6 and the plaza on land R.R No 10809 after subdivision.
"Pursuant to the agreement, we paid a sum of EUR50,000 (about Sh5.7 million) twice as agreed to await the sellers i.e. the defendants and the company to do subdivision, which was never done,'' she said.
As per the agreement, Beltrami said that once they paid the deposit, they were not to pay rent until the completion of the process, which, to her, was never done as the directors kept on postponing it.
In a notice of motion, Beltrami said that upon being served with the orders issued on November 28, 2019, the defendants unlawfully moved to the suit premises, broke the initial locks and replaced them with new ones to prevent her from gaining access to the premises. She said the move was meant to evict them as the defendants attached their goods to auctioneers "for purposes of distraining".
"There is no eviction order by either this court or any other court, the applicants being tenants under landlord and tenants laws of Kenya," the notice reads.
Beltrami said it was not the first time the defendants had failed to obey court orders. They have developed a habit of doing so whenever they feel such orders are not in their favour, she said.
She urged the court to protect its integrity or the integrity of its processes, adding that they should not allow parties to choose which order to obey. A supporting affidavit further revealed that the court orders restrained the defendants either through their agents, servants, or any other person acting under them from selling the complainants' items removed from the building, as per the notification of sale dated November 22, 2019.
The court also ordered the defendants not to interfere with the bar and restaurant business in any manner, pending the hearing of the application. The case will be heard on January 27.