Court to rule on signatures in Kanungu marriage case
Mr Richard Tumwine, a teacher in Kanungu, whose fiancee rejected claiming that he was of old age. PHOTO/ ROBERT RUHEREZA
What you need to know:
- Last month, the same court issued an ex-parte judgement that found Ms Kyarikunda guilty of breach of promise to marry Mr Tumwine, a teacher by profession.
Kanungu Grade One Magistrate Asanasio Mukobi will on March 14 rule on the authenticity of the signatures in a case where a woman is challenging an earlier court ruling that ordered her to refund Shs10.43m for breach of a marriage promise.
The adjournment came after lawyers of Mr Richard Tumwine, whom Ms Fortunate Kyarikunda is supposed to refund the money, yesterday argued that the signatures in the appeal papers are different from those on her other documents.
Last month, the same court issued an ex-parte judgement that found Ms Kyarikunda guilty of breach of promise to marry Mr Tumwine, a teacher by profession. He paid her tuition to study a diploma in law at the Law Development Center (LDC), on the understanding that she would be his future wife in 2018, but this never materialised.
But Ms Kyarikunda, a law enforcement officer in Rubanda District, challenged the ruling of the court on grounds that she was never given an opportunity to defend herself, which is a cardinal principal in law.
Yesterday, Ms Kyarikunda was not in court although she was represented by her lawyers from M/S Nasike & Company advocates.
BACKGROUND
On July 1, 2022, Mr Richard Tumwine filed civil suit No.024 of 2022 through his lawyer Mr Erasmus Nabimanya of Bikangiso & Co. Advocates against Ms Fortunate Kyarikunda whom he accused of breaching a 2018 promise to marry him, a commitment which formed the basis for his decision to sponsor her diploma in law course at the Law Development Centre in Kampala.
The two, according to court records, met and fell in love in 2015 when teaching at the same primary school in Kanungu. Mr Tumwine told court that Ms Kyarikunda, currently a law enforcement officer with Rubanda District Local Government, walked back on a February 2022 date she had set for their (marriage) introduction ceremony and out of the relationship altogether on the pretext that the prospective groom was old. Mr Tumwine asked, and court in an ex-parte judgment awarded him, Shs9.43m in tuition refund and an extra Shs1m as compensation.
