COURT | ENTERTAINMENT | BRYAN WHITE 

KAMPALA - When it rains, it pours for Bryan White aka Brian Kirumira. The Commercial Court has ordered him to pay $160,000 (sh576m) to Alex Binyenda for his car.

In a ruling dated June 2, 2021, Justice Jeanne Rwakakooko directed that the amount will attract 6% interest from May 22, 2018 to the date of the judgement.

Bryan White was also ordered to pay costs of the suit.

“Having ruled in favour of the plaintiff , he is entitled to his claim and the defendant’s counterclaim fails and is hereby dismissed,” Rwakakooko ruled.

The judge observed that Kirumira admitted that there is a balance on the purchase price of $160,000, which Binyenda is entitled to.

The judge noted that the parties conceded to the fact that there was an agreement to sell/ purchase the car in question at $260,000, of which $100,000 was paid to Binyenda and $160,000 is unpaid to date.

He ruled that the agreement entered between the parties was valid and enforceable and that there was no misrepresentation by Binyenda to Kirumira.

“I find that since Kirumira has not adduced any evidence to prove that Binyenda induced him or made any representation that made him purchase the car, the averments are considered to have no basis or proof,” Rwakakooko ruled.

About Kirumira’s counterclaim of breach of contract and rescinding of the contract by the plaintiff for Police to take the car, the judge said the plaintiff attached a letter from Jinja Road Police dated December 31, 2018, requesting Kirumira to send the driver to pick his car and take it to his residence.

The judge noted that the actions of Police were entirely law enforcement and not the plaintiff rescinding the contract, thus the defendant failed to produce evidence to the contrary and or to prove the allegation.   

Background 

In 2018, Binyenda filed a suit against Kirumira, after the latter failed to pay his balance for the car. Kirumira applied for and was granted leave to appear and defend the suit wherein he filed a written statement of defence and a counterclaim, seeking for recovery of $100,000 (360m), he had paid as part payment for the purchase of the vehicle as well as general damages.

Binyenda was represented by Anthony Wameli and Kirumira by John Bulungu.

When the case came up for hearing, Wameli requested that the case be heard exparte (one party) since it is a case of 2018, and Kirumira had not filed witness statements despite given time to do so.

The court held that the parties were directed to file their witness statements by July 7, 2020, but Binyenda only filed it.

Appearing before Justice Boniface Wamala on November 30, 2020, Bulungu confirmed that they had not filed their written witness statements and undertook to file the same before the next hearing date and if not, would be ready to proceed without any statements.

The judge subsequently adjourned the case and when the hearing of the case resumed, no statements had been filed on court record and Bulungu did not explain why his client Kirumira had not shown up in court, and the application for the matter to proceed exparte was granted.   

Plaintiff's case 

Binyenda says at all material times, he was the lawful owner of the car, registration number UBA 067J chassis number WDCYC7CFXDX204167, Mercedes Benz, which was driven by his driver, Iga Braham and it was registered in the name of his company, International Security Systems.

As the owner of the car, Binyenda said he had the authority to sell and deal it. However, on April 18, 2018, Kirumira proposed to him that he wanted to buy his car.

“Before I returned from the village, Kirumira took my car from the driver without authorisation, without paying for it,” the applicant contended.

Binyenda says when he returned from Mbarara, he found his car missing and the driver, who later disappeared, switched off his phones.

This prompted Binyenda to report a case of theft of his motor vehicle at Bugolobi Police Station and thereafter saw messages on social media, with the defendant claiming to have bought his car at $300, 000, which was not true.

The applicant said he later contacted Agaba, the then OC CID, Jinja Road, who organised for a meeting between him and Kirumira.

Binyenda says while at Kirumira’s residence in Munyonyo, the latter told him that the broker said the car was for Maj. Kahinda Otafiire.

Following the meeting, Kirumira agreed to buy the car at $260,000 (sh576m). However, Kirumira paid Binyenda $100,000, in cash, leaving a balance of $160,000.

“I kept demanding for the balance, but Kirumira kept dodging and hiding from me,” says Binyenda.

The applicant said he reported a case at Police over failure to access or approach Kirumira, despite demands.   

Kirumira's case 

Kirumira stated that in April 2018, Binyenda told him that he had a 2017 Mercedes G class G63 AMG handmade and in the whole year, three of the kind had been made, including the vehicle in dispute.

He said the applicant told him the vehicles had been specially made for the King of the United Arab Emirates and that if he bought the car, he would be the only one driving it in Uganda and Africa at large, as the two vehicles had been delivered to the Emir of Qatar and King of Saudi Arabia. 

Kirumira said Binyenda told him that he had received the car as a gift for the work he did for the King of UAE and that on May 15, 2018, he (Kirumira) entered into a car sale agreement at an agreed purchase price of $260,000. 

Kirumira says after the sales agreement, he realised that the vehicle was a 2013 Mercedes Benz model and he informed the plaintiff , who insisted that he wanted his balance despite misrepresentation.

Kirumira says he scanned www.cargurus website to verify the car’s make, nature and model and found out it was a 2013 model and the value far less than the agreed amount.

“I kept on engaging the plaintiff and his agents, hoping we would come to an amicable settlement, but to my shock, the latter brought police officers and media with an arrest warrant on July 17, 2018,” he narrates.

According to Kirumira, the warrant indicated that he had obtained goods by false pretence.

Kirumira said Binyenda impounded the vehicle and took it to Jinja Police Station. “To date, I do not possess the vehicle.”

Kirumira said he complained to the Director of Public Prosecutions, who opined that criminal charges cannot arise from a contract of sale entered into by willing parties and cannot be a subject of criminal prosecution.

He said the Police wrote to him to pick the vehicle, but he has since declined because Binyenda rescinded the contract of sale of the motor vehicle and that he was not sure of the status of the car, having parked at police for so long.