A businessman who had filed for divorce, claiming his wife was engaging in witchcraft, has been told to stay “in his marriage” after the court ruled that he failed to prove any of the legal grounds required to dissolve their 38-year marriage.
Justice Alice Komuhangi Khaukha rejected allegations of witchcraft, cruelty, and desertion labeled against Teopista Besiime by her husband, George Turyatunga.
She instead discovered that much of the evidence pointed in the opposite direction and that Turyatunga had abandoned Besiime, denied her access to some of their children for more than a year, and failed to prove the serious accusations he levelled against her.
Their marriage began on October 17, 1988, when the couple wed in a Catholic church at Rwengiri Parish in Rukungiri.
Together, they raised nine children and established homes in both Nyabubale village in Rukungiri and Kawaala in Kampala. At the time the case was heard, five of their children were still minors.
Turyatunga filed the divorce petition in November 2024, claiming that the marriage had irretrievably broken down.
He accused Besiime of abandoning the Catholic faith for the Born Again church, practising witchcraft, denying him conjugal rights after leaving their bedroom, destroying CCTV cameras installed at their home, and treating him cruelly.
He also sought sole custody of their nine children.
Besiime rejected every allegation. She told the court that it was actually Turyatunga who first introduced her to the Born Again faith before later becoming Orthodox himself.
She said she eventually returned to the Catholic Church while he remained Orthodox. She also denied practising witchcraft and insisted she still wanted to preserve the marriage despite everything that had happened.
Perhaps the most dramatic revelation came when Besiime accused Turyatunga of maintaining relationships with two other women, Aisha Nalumansi and another identified only as Stella.
She testified that he fathered children with both women and had eventually moved in with Nalumansi.
She told the court that Stella had one child with Turyatunga, called Shanita, while Nalumansi had two children with him, Ian and Emmy.
During cross-examination, she said she personally knew Nalumansi because she had once worked in their family business. She said that when Turyatunga started having an affair with Nalumansi, he chased her from the family business.
One of Turyatunga’s central accusations was that Besiime practised witchcraft, which he blamed for mysterious events in their home, including strange noises in the ceiling, unexplained banging on doors, persistent headaches, dizziness, and even the collapse of his taxi business.
However, when Justice Khauka examined this evidence, she found it was based almost entirely on suspicion.
“[Turyatunga] has not adduced any evidence to prove his claims of witchcraft against [Besiime]. To believe his claim as true would be opening a door for any spouse who no longer wants to live with another to simply and unfairly allege and/or claim witchcraft,” she ruled.
She also noted that Turyatunga had failed to produce any medical evidence linking his headaches or dizziness to his wife’s alleged conduct and presented nothing to show that the collapse of his transport business resulted from witchcraft.
Another major issue concerned CCTV cameras, which Turyatunga claimed Besiime had deliberately destroyed to conceal evidence of her cheating.
Although a police officer testified that Besiime admitted damaging the cameras during police investigations, she told the court she confessed to police after being led to believe that doing so was the only way she would ever see her youngest child again after Turyatunga had taken the child away.
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Justice Khaukha observed that during the proceedings she had learnt that Turyatunga had kept seven children away from their mother for over a year and that Besiime did not even know where they were.
She said even if Besiime had damaged the cameras, the incident would still not justify ending a marriage.
“It would still be too small a matter for anyone to use as a reason to Petition for divorce of spouse. That, in my considered view, would not meet the threshold,” she wrote.
Turyatunga also argued that his wife deserted him by moving out of the matrimonial bedroom into the guest room and denying him sex.
But this argument collapsed after evidence from his own witness, Vastine Namara, his younger sister, who had lived with the couple for 11 years.
Namara testified that when she asked why Besiime had left the bedroom, Turyatunga himself admitted that he had chased his wife out.
“[Turyatunga] cannot be seen to claim denial of conjugal rights when he is the one who chased [Besiime] from the marital bedroom and thereafter went further to abandon her in the home,” Justice Khauka said.
She said it was Turyatunga who left the matrimonial home after driving his wife from their bedroom and taking most of the children with him.
Turyatunga’s final ground for divorce was that Besiime had changed religion by leaving Catholicism for the Born Again faith, but Justice Khaukha pointed out that both Catholicism and Born Again churches are Christian denominations.
Having rejected all three grounds, she dismissed Turyatunga’s divorce petition in its entirety.
“[Turyatunga] has not proved any of the grounds he sought to rely on against [Besiime]. Consequently, I decline to dissolve the marriage… and accordingly dismiss the petition,” she ruled.
Although the marriage remained intact, Justice Khauka went on to protect Besiime’s rights by declaring that both the Kawaala and Nyabubale homes remain matrimonial property.
Besiime was allowed to remain peacefully in the Kawaala home, while Turyatunga was told he was free to return if he wished to “be the husband he is expected to be.”
Justice Khauka ordered Turyatunga to continue paying school fees and meeting the needs of the children. He was also ordered to ensure the children spend holidays with Besiime in Rukungiri and to facilitate her transport.
