A court has told a woman to give back shillings 9.4 million (about $80,000) to a man who paid her school fees but who she did not want to marry.
Asanasio Mukobi, a Magistrate Grade One in Uganda's Chief Magistrate's Court of Kanungu, ruled that Fortunate Kyarikunda broke her promise to marry Richard Tumwine.
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Nile Post says that court documents show that Tumwine and Kyarikunda met in 2015 when he was teaching at Kiringa Primary School and she was doing teaching practice there.
The two fell in love and decided to get married in 2018. Because of this, the man paid for her to go to Law Development Centre (LDC).
"The plaintiff gave the defendant money and paid for her to get a Diploma in Law from LDC. He spent Shs9,439,100," says part of the court document, which Nile Post quotes.
Tumwine and Kyarikunda agreed to have a meeting in February 2022, but when he asked her to marry him, she said no because he was too old.
"On January 10, 2022, the two people planned an introduction ceremony and made a budget for the event, which was set to happen in February 2022. Later, the defendant turned against the plaintiff and said, "She can't marry an old man, so she has to sue him," according to a court document.
Tumwine was upset and angry, so he went to court to sue Kyarikunda and ask for Shs1m in compensation from her.
Wednesday, when Mukobi made a decision about the case, he said the plaintiff had a good reason to ask for money.
So, the magistrate said, "I hold that since the defendant did not keep her promise to marry, which hurt the plaintiff, then the plaintiff is entitled to get back the Shs9,439,100 he spent on her." The Nile Post reported that the magistrate said this.
Aside from the money she had to pay, the court also told Kyarikunda to pay her legal fees.