Police in Ngoma District are holding a woman who recently admitted to murdering her husband four years ago.

Claudine Munyanvura is said to have hit and killed her husband, only identified as Mutsindashyaka, in 2012.Since then, the search had been on but in vain.

It was not until Monday that she walked up to Police to confess to the murder.

The couple lived in Karaba cell, Karembo Sector in Ngoma District.

Speaking from Mugesera Police Station, Munyanvura said she killed her husband because she feared for her safety.

She narrated how she had killed her husband at their home while their children were in another room, and dumped his body in a pit latrine.

She claimed their marriage had almost fallen apart in the years leading up to the murder.

"I killed him and dumped the body in the pit latrine…I did it because I was afraid my husband would kill me. We were never on good terms,” the visibly nervous woman said.

Several residents said Mutsindashyaka’s beheaded body was found in the pit-latrine.

James Imaniraho, said the relatives of the deceased and community at large were never satisfied by the explanations of the woman about the whereabouts of the husband.

"Previously she had claimed her husband had travelled to a neighbouring country and was yet to return. People believed it for four years until she confessed,” he said.

"It was a horrible scene…the community is still struggling to come to terms with it. We had to dig open the latrine to get out the remains…the body was found but the head was decapitated. Imagine she has been silent about this evil act for all this long,” he said.

Augustine Sindambirwa, a neighbour, said they were always worried the couple’s misunderstandings would end up in violence.

"Sometime those differences led them to break up a few months. The couple would often get angry and lose tempers over minor things. Their differences were even more pronounced when they got drunk,” he said.

Eastern Region Police spokesperson IP Emmanuel Kayigi said investigations were on for a long time.

"It was not until the prime suspect, the wife of deceased, came out to tell the truth that we detained her,” he said.

"There are other suspects either as accomplices, or those directly involved in the murder. We are holding three other suspects as we continue to unearth the truth.”

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