The High Court sitting in Kabale has ordered the management committee of Bishop Asili Nursery Day and Boarding Primary School in Kabale Municipality to pay 25 million Shillings to Tadeo Ruzindantaro as general damages over the disappearance of his daughter.
The case arises from an incident on April 23, 2018, when Ruzindantaro accused the school of unlawfully releasing his four-year-old daughter to his estranged wife, Mercy Kirande, without his consent.
In Civil Suit No. 36 of 2022, Ruzindantaro alleged that the school’s head teacher, Sister Margaret Tusiime, conspired with Kirande to unlawfully remove the child from Uganda and smuggle her to South Africa.
Ruzindantaro told the court that he and Kirande were married in 2003 but separated in 2010, after which Kirande left the country and abandoned the child.
Years later, when Ruzindantaro’s current wife, Innocent Tukamushaba, visited the school to collect the child’s report card, a teacher informed her that the girl had sat only two papers before being taken to South Africa by Kirande, allegedly with the help of the head teacher.
Ruzindantaro reported the incident at Kabale Police Station under reference SD Ref. 57/26/04/2018 and was advised to pursue a civil case.
He filed the suit seeking general damages for psychological and emotional distress caused by the unauthorized removal of his daughter.
However, during the court proceedings, it was revealed that the child had not been taken abroad. Instead, she had been picked up from the school by Kirande’s close friend, Phionah Rukundo, and kept at her residence in Kampala.
According to a report submitted by Monica Muhumuza Nzeirwe, the Kabale District Senior Probation and Social Welfare Officer, and the Family and Child Protection Unit of Kabale Central Police Station, the child was later recovered from Rukundo and reunited with her father after five years.
Muhumuza’s report alleged that Rukundo took the child due to alleged mistreatment and harassment by Ruzindantaro and his current wife. The report also claimed the child struggled with school fees and scholastic materials.
However, in her testimony, the child refuted the claims, stating that she had been taken from the school without her father’s knowledge and had no contact with him until they were reunited in 2023.
She told the court she had no issues with her father and that he consistently supported her education. She is now enrolled at Immaculate Heart Girls School-Nyakibale in Rukungiri District and lives happily with her father.
In his ruling delivered on Wednesday, Justice Karoli Lwanga Ssemogerere found the school management liable, stating that Rukundo’s failure to appear in court by summons eliminated any mitigating factors in favor of the school.
He noted that Rukundo unlawfully kept a child who was not hers for five years without explanation.
Justice Ssemogerere ruled that the school violated the Children Act, Cap 59, and specifically Section 5(1)(a), which mandates that a parent, guardian, or custodian is responsible for a child’s welfare, including the right to education.
He also cited Article 31(4) of the Constitution, which emphasizes the duty of parents to care for and raise their children. The judge held that the school undermined these protections by releasing the child without the consent of the custodial parent.
The court ordered the school to pay 25 million Shillings to Ruzindantaro as general damages for the psychological trauma he endured. Additionally, the school was ordered to cover half of the legal expenses he incurred during the lawsuit.
Kalenzi Godfrey (school bursar), Oddo Byamugisha, George Nsaba (members of the school management committee), and their lawyer, Justus Muhangi of Muhangi Justus & Partners Advocates, declined to comment on the ruling.
Ruzindantaro’s legal team, Timothy Twikirize and Godwin Masereka, welcomed the judgment, calling it a critical reminder to school administrators to safeguard the children entrusted to their care.
Ruzindantaro also accused the school administration of using social media to tarnish his reputation.
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