Court orders woman to pay ex Sh 400K for refusing to marry him

A court in Uganda has ordered a woman to pay her ex-fiancé more than 10 million Ugandan shillings or 400,000 Kenyan shillings as compensation for breaking her promise to marry him.

According to the Daily Monitor, court records show that Richard Tumwine and Fortunate Kyarikunda, both teachers, started dating in 2015 and that the two later made a commitment to marry in 2018.

The court also heard that Tumwine, a teacher at Kiringa Primary School, sponsored Kyarikunda- including sponsoring him for a law degree at the Law Development Center (LDC) where he spent over Sh313, 695.

Kanungu Magistrate, Asanasio Mukobi said that the promise to marry was not fulfilled by Kyarikunda and harmed Tumwine.

Mr. Mukobi also ordered Kyarikunda to pay Sh33,770 to Tumwine as general damages for psychological distress and pain.

The judge went on to say that Kyarikunda should pay the legal costs incurred by Tumwine in conducting his case.

"I see, from the specimen, several transactions to transfer money from the plaintiff's phone in the name of Richard Tumwine to the defendant's phone in the name of Fortunate Kyarikunda," the judge confirmed.

During the hearing of the case, Tumwine told the court that his induction ceremony was scheduled for February 2022, but it did not take place without valid reasons being given.

The court was told that Kyarikunda came up with an excuse that her parents have explained that their daughter should not marry an older man meaning Tumwine.

But the court said: "This is also meaningless, it is a misrepresentation and fraud." In any case, the defendant had every opportunity to reject the plaintiff's love requests as early as possible and avoid interfering with his financial obligations."

The court found that the two men were in a romantic relationship and that from the exhibits presented, arrangements were made for an identification ceremony.