A woman in Kanungu district has been ordered to pay back 10.43 Million Ugandan Shillings to her former lover after he sued her for breach of promise to marry.
The case of its kind, which was heard at the Kanungu Grade One Magistrate’s court, was filed by Richard Tumwiine in February 2022 against his ex-girlfriend, Fortunate Kyarikunda.
According to the prosecution, Tumwiine met Kyarikunda at Kiringa primary school in the Kambunga sub-county, Kanungu district where he was a student teacher in 2015.
The two began dating and in 2018, Tumwiine agreed to marry Kyarikunda. To support her education, Tumwiine reportedly gave Kyarikunda UGX 9,439,100 shs to complete her Diploma in legal practice at the Kampala-based Law Development Center (LDC).
However, in February 2022, Kyarikunda backed out of the marriage plan, citing that Tumwiine was above 65 years of age and she was below 35 years.
Tumwiine then filed a lawsuit against Kyarikunda for breach of marriage promise and asked the court to make her return the money he had given her for her education.
In her ruling, the Kanungu Grade One Magistrate, Asanansio Mukobi, said that Kyarikunda had failed to file her defense and that Tumwiine was entitled to the reimbursement of the ugx 9,439,100 he had spent on her education.
Additionally, based on Article 126 (2) (c) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda 1995 as amended, which provides for adequate compensation for victims of wrongs, Mukobi ordered Kyarikunda to pay UGX 10M to Tumwiine as general damage for inconveniences and psychological anguish.
