RWAMAGANA- The Rwamagana woman who is alleged to have killed her husband and four children last Sunday, has been arrested, Police said yesterday.  

She was captured in a swamp in Musha sector, in a village bordering Lake Muhazi. 

 "She was so calm after the killing…she slipped away and escaped to neighbouring villages. We have been searching for her since Sunday… Today, we got her after a tip off from residents in a family where she went to look for food having gone hungry for three days,” the Rwamagana District Police commander, Vincent Kamanzi said.

Upon arrest, Marie Nyiramungu, 39, was taken to her home village in Byange where she confessed to killing her victims, claiming she was driven by satanic forces. 

"I don’t know what happened to me…I suddenly heard a voice ordering me to kill everyone in the house,” she said.

"It was not me, but a satanic force that had possessed me. I picked a machete, cut my husband’s head several times, before turning to the children. Only one escaped…just don’t ask me anything beyond that because you never know, Satan may do the same to you tomorrow,” she told frightened residents who listened attentively. 

Claudette Mukamana, a resident, said that the capture of the killer would bring life back to the village again. 

"We have been locking ourselves in our houses by 6.00pm due to fear that she was still at large. You know, like a mad dog, we couldn’t tell who her next victim would be,” she said.

Police had to forcefully fend off the angry residents who wanted to lynch her.

"This is a person who doesn’t have space in our prisons. We can no longer allow our society to be ruled by evil…the Genocide memories must be kept away from our communities,” an angry man shouted from the crowd.

Nyiramungu was later whisked away to Rwamagana Police Station where she was detained pending further investigations.

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