Judge rejects request to halt Magic Kiosk demolition

The owner of the Magic Kiosk yesterday lost his legal battle to stop the government from demolishing his restaurant in Sliema.

The action would have been late anyway as most of the kiosk was demolished on January 9. The court had temporarily upheld a request for the issue of a warrant of prohibitory injunction, halting the demolition pending the final decision on the matter.

But the application was rejected permanently yesterday. Still, the owner insisted on his battle against the authorities and has now filed another application for the issue of a warrant of prohibitory injunction, asking for the turquoise aluminium removed from the site not to be recycled, as the government said it would do.

The request was also temporarily upheld until a final decision is made later this month.

Owner Joseph Pace had asked the court to stop the authorities from evicting him from the kiosk and demolish it after the government advised him to clear the site last July.

Mr Pace had instituted legal action to stop the process but on January 9 the controversial turquoise landmark started being demolished.

Mr Justice Geoffrey Valenzia yesterday dismissed Mr Pace's application, saying there were no legal grounds for a warrant to be issued because he had no legal title to the land on which the kiosk stood.

In fact, the restaurant was built on government land and was rented by the Pace family for the past 32 years through two contracts.

One part of the lease expired four years ago and was never renewed and the second expired on December 19.

Lawyer Tonio Azzopardi appeared for Mr Pace.