Magistrate Ngube of the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court on 21 June 2011 entered judgment against Muhammer Ahmar, who is the proprietor of Sultan Sweet Restaurant.
Muhammed Al Ahmar was dragged to court by one Mbackeh Saine and 22 others for the recovery of the sum of D127, 311 being amount due for unlawful termination and interest of 25 percent and costs.
The particulars of claim of the plaintiffs stated that they were employees of the defendant, and that they were wrongfully terminated by the defendant.
The plaintiffs further claimed that they worked for the defendant and were terminated because the said business is no longer working.
The particulars of claim went on to state that through the plaintiffs’ investigation, they found out that the defendant had sold the restaurant to another person.
In his judgment, the trial magistrate told the court that the defendant was absent from court without any justification, adding that there was information that the defendant came to court and left on his own without seeking leave of the court.
He stated that there was also evidence in the records that the defendant had been served by virtue of the affidavit of the service sworn to by the process server of the court.
He said that as the defendant gave no reason for leaving the court without giving any reason for his act, the court was inclined to proceed in his absence by invoking Section 7 (1) of the Subordinate Court Civil Proceedings Act and Rule 12 (1) of the revised industrial rule and proceed to enter judgment in favour of the plaintiffs in the absence of the defendant.
Magistrate Ngube subsequently ordered the defendant to pay the plaintiffs the sum of D127, 311 being an amount due for unlawful termination.
He awarded interest of 10 percent from April 2010 to the date of the judgement and costs of D600.
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