A Ugandan lady who dumped her fiancé was forced to compensate him financially for his psychological suffering.
Fortunate Kyarikunda must now pay back 9.4 million shillings ($2,550; £2,060) in addition to Richard Tumwine’s legal costs, according to the Kanungu court.
Magistrate Asanasio Mukobi determined that Ms Kyarikunda had violated a pledge to Mr. Tumwine by ending their engagement after four years.
The court ruled that the defendant’s claim that her parents forbade her from marrying an older man was “unreasonable, a misrepresentation, and a fraud,” adding that she “had all the opportunity to reject the plaintiff’s love requests at the earliest point possible and avoid interfering with his financial obligations.”
It is unknown if Ms. Kyarikunda will file an appeal in response to the ruling.
The ruling, according to detractors, is problematic since, unlike a marriage, an engagement is not legally binding.
Sheila Kawamara of the women’s rights organization ED EASSI cautions that there are occasionally exploitative situations where a guy provides money to a woman in exchange for her engagement to him.
