A Ugandan court ordered a woman to pay her ex-fiancé for the “damage” she caused after breaking off their engagement.
The ex-fiance said she caused him “inconvenience and psychological anguish”.
The court has ordered the woman to pay her ex-fiance more than $2,800 (R48,000) for breaking off their engagement after he paid for her studies.
According to court documents seen by Agence France-Presse (AFP); Richard Tumwiine, a 64-year-old retired teacher, paid for Fortunate Kyarikunda’s diploma in law while the couple were still engaged. The woman is said to be in her early thirties.
Kyarikunda reportedly had a change of heart and turned against the plaintiff, saying she could not marry an old man.
On Thursday, in Kanungu, western Uganda, Magistrate Charles Mukobi ruled that since the promise to marry was not fulfilled by the defendant to the detriment of the plaintiff, the woman had to pay her ex-fiance more than R48,000 for breaking off their engagement.
“Kyarikunda has to refund the R48,048,28 that Tumwiine spent on her studies,” according to the court documents.
Mukobi added that the court has also ordered the defendant to pay “one million shillings ($R4,650) in general damages to the plaintiff for inconvenience and psychological anguish”.
Kyarikunda neither submitted a defence nor attended proceedings, the court said.
On Friday, Tumwiine told AFP the case has left him with a broken heart and permanent injuries in his heart. “I have been scorned by friends and relatives as a man who was rejected”.
But Uganda’s former ethics minister and prominent women’s rights activist Miria Matembe slammed the “one-sided” verdict. It was “a classic case of how the judicial systems are tilted in favour of men,” she told AFP.
Compiled by Mashudu Mabila
Pictured above: A court gavel
Image source: Pexels
