Mombasa court orders woman to rebuild co-widow's house

Akhtar was ordered by court to rebuild the house of Regine. Both women were married to slain tycoon Shahid Butt. (Photo: File/Standard) 

 A case in which two widows of a slain Mombasa tycoon are fighting over ownership of a palatial house in Mkomani, Mombasa has taken a new twist. The Court of Appeal has now ordered the first wife to reconstruct a house she demolished.

Akhtar and Regine were married to Shahid Butt, who was killed by gunmen on December 17, 2014.

The first wife, Akhtar bore Butt a son, Haroon. Butt later married Regine following his estrangement with Akhtar. Regine and Butt had two children. However, Butt never divorced Akhtar and continued to live with Haroon, even after his mother left.

In August last year, the house in which Regine had been living with Butt was partially pulled down, prompting her (Regine) to return to the High Court before Justice J Thande, where she accused Akhtar of demolishing the house and denying her the right to live in her late husband’s house.

In his ruling on February 18 this year, Justice Thande ordered Akhtar to restore the home to its state prior to its demolition and pay Regine Sh250,000 per month as rent from June 15 2015, until such a date as the respondent shall have been reinstated in the reconstructed home, and all household goods that were removed from the premises returned.

Shahid Butt's second wife Regine. (Photo: File/Standard)

Thande also ordered that Akhtar and Haroon be jailed for three months for contempt of court but the two got a reprieve from Justice Mathew Anyara Emukule, who granted them stay orders. And last month, Akhtar challenged Thande’s order before the Court of Appeal, which declined to overturn the February 18 orders. The two denied they demolished the house and alleged it was brought down by the Mombasa county government.

Pay rent

But last Friday, the Court of Appeal dismissed Akhtar and Haroon’s application to overturn the February 18 orders, until they had reconstructed the house.

“We decline to hear the applicants until they have complied in full with the orders of the High Court,” said Court of Appeal judges Milton Makhandia, William Ouko and Kathurima M’Inoti.

Akhtar’s lawyer, Charles Agwara, explained that the Court of Appeal held that his clients would have to comply with the High Court orders made on February 18 or any other subsequent orders in the matter before their appeal could be heard.

He said the orders his clients were required to comply with were those to pay rent of Sh250,000 per month and to reconstruct the house since the High Court had on March 21 given orders staying their arrest.