A court in Uganda has ordered a woman to pay $2,550 in financial damages to her ex-fiancé after she called off their relationship. According to BBC, the verdict came after the court determined the break-up caused Richard Tumwine psychological anguish.
Tumwine is said to have spent the aforementioned amount on his former partner’s law studies. The woman, identified as Fortunate Kyarikunda, has been ordered to refund the money and also pay his legal fees.
Kyarikunda had been in a relationship with her former beau for four years. Magistrate Asanasio Mukobi ruled that the former had broken a promise to Tumwine by calling off their engagement.
The court also argued that it was “unreasonable, a misrepresentation and a fraud” for Kyarikunda to claim she broke things off with Tumwine because her parents were not in support of her marrying an older person. The court added that the defendant “had all the opportunity to reject the plaintiff’s love requests at the earliest point possible and avoid interfering with his financial obligations.”
But critics who spoke with the Monitor newspaper registered their displeasure with the verdict, saying an engagement is not marriage, and such, not legally binding. Sheila Kawamara, who is with the ED EASSI women’s advocacy group, also claimed there are some instances where men exploit women by giving them money on the condition that they tie the knot.
