A court in Kanungu, Uganda has ordered a Ugandan woman who broke up with her fiancé to pay him financial damages for psychological pain.
The court said that Richard Tumwine paid 9.4m shillings ($2,550; £2,060) for Fortunate Kyarikunda’s law studies, which she must now repay in addition to his legal fees. Magistrate Asanasio Mukobi ruled that By calling off their engagement after four years, Ms Kyarikunda had broken a promise to the detriment of Mr Tumwine.
The court said it was “unreasonable, a misrepresentation and a fraud” for the defendant to argue that her parents told her not to marry an older man, saying she “had all the opportunity to reject the plaintiff’s love requests at the earliest point possible and avoid interfering with his financial obligations”.
However, it’s not known if Ms Kyarikunda will appeal against the judgement. Critics have also challenged the ruling, urguing that an engagement, unlike a marriage, is not legally binding.
Sheila Kawamara of the women’s advocacy group ED EASSI, also warned that there are sometimes exploitative circumstances whereby a man gives money to a woman on the condition that she will marry.
