Wakilii

Turyatunga George v Teopista Besiime Aka Ninsiima [2026] UGHCFD 76

High Court · 2026 Petition Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
First instance divorce petition for dissolution of marriage, custody and costs
Decision
Divorce petition dismissed; marriage not dissolved; declarations made on matrimonial homes, access to children and maintenance

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The High Court dismissed a husband's divorce petition, holding that he had proved none of the grounds pleaded. Allegations of witchcraft amounting to cruelty require cogent evidence; bare assertions of strange sounds, unproved illnesses and business collapse, without medical or other supporting proof, fail. A purported police confession to damaging CCTV cameras was disbelieved as likely induced by threats and by the petitioner's withholding of a child, and in any event such damage would not meet the threshold of cruelty. Desertion failed because the petitioner had chased the respondent from the marital bedroom and abandoned the home. Conversion from Catholic to Born Again faith is not a change of religion under Divorce Act s.4(b), which also requires a subsequent form of marriage.

Outcome

Divorce petition dismissed; marriage not dissolved; declarations made on matrimonial homes, access to children and maintenance

Facts

The parties married in a church ceremony at Rwengiri Parish, Kabale Diocese, Rukungiri District on 17 October 1988 and have nine children, five of whom were under 18 at the hearing. They maintained homes at Kawaala Zone II, Rubaga Division, Kampala, and at Nyabubale, Bwambala, Rukungiri District. The petitioner alleged the respondent left the Catholic faith for a Born Again church, practised witchcraft causing him strange noises, incurable headaches and the collapse of his taxi business, damaged a bedroom door and CCTV cameras, abandoned the marital bedroom and denied him conjugal rights. He adduced photographs, a police report and police testimony that the respondent confessed to damaging the cameras. The respondent denied the allegations, said the petitioner had introduced her to the Born Again church and himself became Orthodox, that he chased her from the marital bedroom, abandoned the home, sold the taxis to build the country home, and had fathered children with two other women. She explained her police confession as coerced by promises of access to her five-year-old child whom the petitioner had taken. The petitioner had withheld seven children from her for over a year until the court intervened. The respondent remained willing to preserve the marriage.

Issues

  1. Whether there were any grounds for dissolution of the marriage, namely cruelty, desertion and change of religion.
  2. Whether there is matrimonial property and, if so, how it should be dealt with.
  3. How custody and maintenance of the children of the marriage should be handled.
  4. What remedies are available to the parties.

Orders

  • The Petition wholly fails and is dismissed; the Petitioner has failed to prove any of the grounds of divorce pleaded against the Respondent.
  • The property at Kawaala Zone II, Rubaga Division, Kampala District and the home at Nyabubale, Bwambala in Rukungiri District are declared matrimonial property.
  • The Respondent will remain in the Kawaala home uninterrupted.
  • The Petitioner is at liberty to return to the Kawaala home if he so wishes.
  • In the alternative, if unwilling to return home, the Petitioner is prohibited from interfering with the Respondent's peaceful occupation.
  • The Respondent shall enjoy quiet and peaceful occupation of the Kawaala home.
  • The Respondent shall access the Nyabubale home as and when she desires and the Petitioner is prohibited from denying or restricting such access.
  • The Petitioner shall ensure children below 18 years are taken to the village home in Rukungiri during holidays where the Respondent shall have unlimited access to them.
  • The Petitioner shall provide transport for the Respondent to and from Rukungiri.
  • The Petitioner shall maintain the Respondent and the children while at the village home in Rukungiri.
  • The children are at liberty to spend holidays at the Kawaala home if they wish.
  • Each party shall bear its own costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Family Law — Divorce — Cruelty — Threshold of danger to life, limb or health
Cruelty as a ground for divorce requires conduct producing actual or apprehended injury to the petitioner's physical or mental health; there must be danger to life, limb or health, bodily or mental, or reasonable apprehension of it, and trivial matrimonial complaints do not meet that threshold.
Evidence — Proof of witchcraft as cruelty in divorce — Requirement of cogent evidence
A spouse alleging witchcraft as an act of cruelty must adduce cogent evidence in support; bare assertions of strange sounds, unproved illnesses without medical evidence, or unsupported claims of business collapse are insufficient, since accepting such claims would allow any spouse unwilling to remain in a marriage to allege witchcraft.
Evidence — Confessions to police in civil proceedings — Weight where induced by threats or promises
A confession made to police may be discounted in matrimonial proceedings where the surrounding circumstances show it was likely induced by threats, promises or undue influence, such as a promise of access to a child withheld by the other spouse.
Family Law — Divorce — Desertion — Petitioner who expelled or abandoned the other spouse
A spouse who chases the other from the marital bedroom and thereafter abandons the matrimonial home cannot rely on desertion or denial of conjugal rights as a ground for divorce.
Family Law — Divorce — Change of religion under Divorce Act s.4(b) — Movement between Christian denominations
Change of religion under section 4(b) of the Divorce Act requires the spouse to have abandoned the profession of Christianity for another religion and to have gone through a form of marriage with another person; conversion between Christian denominations, such as from Catholic to Born Again, does not constitute a change of religion.
Land & Property — Matrimonial property — Declaration of family homes where marriage not dissolved
Where a divorce petition fails, the court may nonetheless declare the family residences and the land on which they stand to be matrimonial property and secure a spouse's quiet and peaceful occupation and access, while declining to pronounce on distribution of other assets because the marriage subsists.
Family Law — Children — Custody, access and maintenance — Court's power under Divorce Act s.28
Section 28 of the Divorce Act empowers the court to make orders for the custody, maintenance and access of children during matrimonial proceedings, including directing a parent who has withheld children to produce them and to facilitate the other parent's access and upkeep.

Legislation cited (3)

Cases cited (6)

  • Sarah Kiyemba v Batte (Divorce Cause No. 0127 of 2018)
  • Sarah Kiyemba v Batte (Divorce Cause No. 0127 of 2018)
  • Byamugisha James v Tushemerirwe Specioza (Divorce Cause No. 1 of 2025)
  • Habyarimana versus Habyarimana [1980] HCB 139
  • Vivian Ntanda v James Kayemba (Divorce Cause No. 4 of 2008)
  • Kayhul v Kayhul (Divorce Cause No. 133 of 2016)

Full judgment

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Turyatunga George v Teopista Besiime Aka Ninsiima [2026] UGHCFD 76 (3 July 2026)
Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.