The boda boda driver

Jean Baptiste Muhoza killed six people after a motorist reportedly overcharged him. Eyewitness say Muhoza turned a gun on the motorist Olivier Habimana after a quarrel.

Upon hearing the news of her son’s death, Bernadette Mukarugwiza fainted. During an interview this week, Mukarugwiza, could not hold back the tears. She tells me Habimana was her firstborn child.

"I ask myself why it had to be mine son,” Mukarugwiza says bitterly. "I want justice to be done.”

She describes Habimana as "resourceful” and "hard working”. "He would have made it in life,” the mother says.

Residents of Kimisagara say Habimana was a victim of circumstances. They claim Muhoza had a girlfriend who had the previous night taken his money. The Sunday Times could not independently verify this by press time.

"After he finished primary school, he joined a vocational institution and completed a course in mechanics,” Mukarugwiza reveals.

"My child was innocent”

The passerby

Theorgene Mukundufite waited many hours for his cousin Faustin Kuladusenge, 22, to return home.

"I was wondering what had happened to him because he is always on time,” Mukundufite says tears rolling down his cheeks. But this turned out to be a black night.

Late in the night, Mukundufite learnt the bitter truth and was shocked to hear that Kuladusenge was among Muhoza’s victims.

"I returned at 8pm from work. I waited for him but in vain,” says Mukundufite.

Kuladusenge lived with his elder sister Aline; their parents died years back. He alone was fending his family.

Born in a family of five and orphaned at early stage, Kuladusenge was forced to mature early, Mukundufite says. He did not enjoy the warmth many children enjoy when growing up.

Kuladusenge, a hawker, was shot by Muhoza on his way home from work.

Ends