Justice Celia Nagawa of the Family Division of the High Court has allowed the dissolution of Herbert Friday Mugisha’s thirty-four year marriage with Hope Kyomugisha.
In her petition, Kyomugisha told court that she got married to Mugisha in 1992 at St. James Cathedral, Ruharo, Mbarara, a marriage which was solemnized under the Marriage Act.
She told the court that through their marriage, God blessed them with four children who are now aged 30, 27, 24 and 18 years.
However, months after they officialised their marriage, she was shocked when the husband turned violent, cruel and constantly abused her both at home and in public and he resorted to drunkenness. He also deserted her by not sleeping at home and when she did, she came home in the wee hours of the night.
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“In May 2005, while returning home at Gabiro, the respondent seriously beat her up after pushing her out of the car, causing her to fall in a roadside trench where he kicked her terribly, damaging and rupturing her right kidney,” Court documents read.
She narrated that because of the injury, she has undergone several operations at Kibuli hospital, in Nairobi and India and has become physically weak and unable to perform heavy duties.
She told court that she will never forget the embarrassment she went through in January 2010 when her husband shamelessly and badly beat her at a wedding party. She added that before that, in November 2009, he threatened to kill her and after chased her away in the wee hours of the night from their matrimonial home in Bugolobi.
“The Petitioner alleges that the Respondent had sex with the housemaid Mucureezi Lydia in their matrimonial home, and she caught them several times in-flagrante delicto,” court documents read.
However, the judge disagreed with her because she didn’t provide touching evidence to prove some of her allegations against the accused person who kept on denying and challenging the divorce insisting that he is still in love her as his wife.
The wife noted that the said marriage was broken years back and in 2012 she filed a divorce but she failed to prosecute it because she was rushed to India for medical treatment and to her surprise.
She told Court that during their marriage, they accumulated properties that include a condominium at Bugolobi flats Block 32C6, a storied commercial house in Kajjansi, residential houses in Kirombe Luzira, Mbuya and Kitintale Zone Luzira, residential quarters in Mutungo Zone 8, a plot in Kinawataka measuring 25 decimals; and a farm in Omungali, Kiruhura District totalling 250 hectares.
She insisted that the said properties were acquired through savings from her restaurant business and her husband’s salary who worked as an accountant with retired UPDF Brig Gen John Mugyenyi, a job he obtained through her influence because he is her uncle.
In his defence, Mugisha insisted that at all times in their marriage, he has been a loving husband and never subjected his wife to any cruelty. She insisted that she was the one who deserted their marital home leaving him alone.
In conclusion, the judge agreed with the wife and resolved the marriage. She directed that the properties be shared but the house in Kirombe Luzira which Mugisha said that the wife forcefully accessed and where she stays with her children be retain by the wife as her home.
Court documents indicate that the storied Commercial property in Kajjasi in Wakiso district was sold by Mugisha in 2024 and another property in Kinawataka in Nakawa Division measuring approximately 25 decimals meaning that some of the said properties no longer belong to either party.
The judge noted that the commercial and residential house in Kitintale Zone, Luzira, Kampala District shall be taken by the wife and Mugisha shall retain the residential house in Mbuya Nakawa Division.
The farm land in Kazo remains undistributed since its ownership including the cows, banana plantation has no clear evidence of ownership on court records.
For the residential home at Bugolobi Block 32C6, the judge directed that it should remain in the ownership of Mugisha since he has been staying in it.
However, the judge declined to direct Mugisha to take care of his now former wife’s being by giving her money each month noting that she didn’t provide any evidence that she suffers from any disability that forbids her from gaining employment.
