Court orders Kanungu woman to refund Shs 9m after rejecting man's marriage proposal
- Written by URN
Fortunate Kyarikunda rejected Richard Tumwiine's marriage proposal
Kanugu Magistrate's court has directed a woman to refund Shs 9.43 million she received from her ex-lover towards her education after turning down his marriage proposal.
The ruling stems from a civil suit number; 024 of 2022 filed by Richard Tumwiine in February 2022 against his ex-lover Fortunate Kyarikunda for breach of marriage promise.
According to the prosecution, Tumwiine met Kyarikunda at Kiringa primary school in Kambunga sub-county, Kanungu district where he was a teacher in 2015. Kyarikunda was conducting teaching practice at the same school. In the process, Tumwiine fell in love with Kyarikunda and the two lovebirds agreed in 2018 to get married.
Tumwiine reportedly gave Kyarikunda Shs 9,439,100 to complete her diploma in legal practice at the Kampala-based Law Development Center (LDC). After completing her bar course, the couple agreed on January 10, 2022, to arrange an introduction ceremony scheduled for February 2022.
However, Tumwiine was shocked in February 2022 when Kyarikunda backed out of the marriage plan, saying that she can't proceed because her suitor is above 65 years of age yet she is below 35 years. In his petition, Tumwine accused Kyarikunda of breach of a marriage promise. He asked the court to compel her to refund the money he injected into her education since he did it well knowing they will end up together.
In her ruling on Wednesday, Kanungu grade one magistrate, Asanansio Mukobi, said that despite being served, Kyarikunda failed to file her defense. Mukobi says that since the marriage promise was not fulfilled, Tumwiine is entitled to the reimbursement of the Shs 9 million he spent on her.
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 Shs 1 million to Tumwiine as general damage for inconveniences and psychological anguish.
"There is no wrong without a remedy. Victims of wrongs such as the plaintiff in this case are entitled to compensation," reads the ruling.
Efforts to get a comment from Kyarikunda were futile. Tumwiine told our reporter that despite the court ruling in his favour, he would never forget the time and concentration he wasted on Kyarikunda. This is the first court case of this nature in the Kanungu district.
Comments
May be he paid for her fees because he loved her, it does not matter whether she loved him back but she cannot marry a man just because he paid her school fees, at his age of 65, he only paid her her fees as a good Samaritan, sponsor or a foster father and no one wants to get married to their father.
This lady should appeal that decision, it cant be sustained, its a very bad decision. If the lady did not file her defense how did the court prove any such money had been paid in fees. the recourse for breach of a marriage promise according to the law is damages, nothing more nothing less. He was in fact holding the woman hostage and a prisoner before she backed out
And the agreement between them seems to be that the man pays the fees if the woman promises to marry him.
She did not have any issue with the terms of the agreement or even his age when she was taking his money. If she wants to back out of the said agreement, then it would not be unreasonable to expect her to refund the money.
In fact, she should refund the money with interest or the man should be entitled to receive a percentage of her future earnings as a result of the education he sponsored.
At 65, how long does this old man expect to live, as long as Museveni?
This lady is cleaver; ensured her education is payed for by her dad & now she's free to get job, just live, fall in love with a young man, have kids...!
The old man should be ashamed to have taken the case to court!
People says a lot of things when starting a relationship, and even during wedding vow "till death do us apart" but lots of people still get divorce before death do them apart.
They were both willing party at the time, Iam sure thw woman servered what the man wanted. Why didnt they get married at the time he was paying her schooling? Was she underage at the time?
That should also be looked at . If she was underaged, she might not been able to make sound decision