A woman who sought to appeal a decision in which she was fined Ush10.4 million (roughly Ksh348,000) for breaking a marriage vow to a man who had paid her college fees had her application rejected by a court in western Uganda.
Ms. Fortunate Kyarikunda, a law enforcement official, was found to have broken her 2018 commitment to wed Mr. Richard Tumwine, a local teacher, by the Kanungu Magistrate Court last month. The court heard that he had paid her tuition to pursue a diploma in law with the expectation that she would eventually become his wife.
Yesterday, Magistrate Asanasio Mukobi ruled that Ms Kyarikunda’s application could not stand since she had forged signatures and altered her evidence during amendment.
“The application is dismissed with no costs awarded,” Mr Mukobi ruled.
The attorneys for Ms. Kyarikunda, who was not present in court, stated that they would file an appeal because they were not pleased with the judge’s decision.
“Whereas Mr Richard Tumwiine’s story was heard, no one has ever heard from our client and yet people continue to judge her wrongly. We shall appeal because all we want is for our client to be heard,” Ms Sarah Nakike, a lawyer representing Ms Kyarikunda, said.
Ms Kyarikunda said she was not duly served with summons to file her defence.
Mr Erasmus Nabimanya, who was representing Mr Tumwiine, welcomed the court’s decision but said they should have been awarded with costs of the suit.
“While we are happy that the filed application was dismissed, court did not award us costs yet we spent a lot of money. In consultation with my client, we shall consider filling an application demanding for the costs of this dismissed application,” Mr Nabimanya said.
On his part, Mr Tumwiine said the woman’s absence from court raised more questions.
