Simshar widow appeals eviction

The widow of a fisherman who lost his life in the Simshar tragedy has appealed a court order evicting her from the house she shared with her husband for 10 years.

Stefania Carabott filed the appeal against Giuseppe and Doris Carabott, the father and aunt of her late husband Noel. They pursued a legal case to have her evicted following the fatal shipwreck.

The case turned into a saga over the past weeks after the Joint Office, which leases the house to the elderly siblings, tried to block the eviction on legal grounds. It later turned out there had been a mistake and the Joint Office accepted that Giuseppe and Doris Carabott were legally entitled to the property they were trying to evict the widow from.

Mrs Carabott yesterday asked for the eviction order to be revoked on procedural grounds and because she claimed she had a title at law to occupy the farmhouse.

According to Mrs Carabott, her in-laws' request for eviction did not contain the necessary legal declaration saying that they knew she had no grounds on which to contest their action. She added that the lack of such declaration rendered the application invalid.

The in-laws had also declared that Stefania and Noel Carabott had occupied the farmhouse, which Noel Carabott's father and aunt leased from the Joint Office, without a valid title.

But, Mrs Carabott said her in-laws had specifically told the court they had allowed their son and his wife to live in the farmhouse. This meant that it was not true to say that Mrs Carabott had no legal title to the property.

Furthermore, she argued that she and her husband had spent a lot of money to refurbish the house.

Lawyers Patrick Valentino and Kris Busietta acted for Mrs Carabott.