NYARUTARAMA - A man brutally killed his wife and then committed suicide on New Year’s Day in Nyarutarama, a Kigali City suburb.

In the grisly murder, Damian Ndayisenga, 74, hit hapless Marceline Musabende, in her early 30s, with a hammer on the head and stabbed her through her breast using knives, neighbours said yesterday.

The couple is survived by six children. The cold-blooded killing happened Tuesday night (at around 11pm) and according to neighbours, the bereaved children watched on and wailed as Ndayisenga pounded their mother to death.

Margaret Mukanyarwaya, a neighbour of the family said that the woman tried to defend herself but was overpowered by the beastly husband. 

She said they heard the children screaming for help and when they (neighbours) eventually broke into the house, they found both Ndayisenga and his wife dead. 

Ndayisenga’s body had wounds, too, Mukanyarwaya said. According to Mukanyarwaya, the children haplessly cried out: "he is killing mum! Mum is dead”, to attract their neighbours’ attention on the fateful night.

The neighbours had difficulty in breaking the metallic door, which had a padlock on it from inside.

Police arrived at the scene at 1.am on Wednesday morning after the neighbours alerted them and took away the bodies to Kigali Central University Hospital (CHUK) mortuary.

They also took 12-year-old Joseline Iradukunda, one of Musabende’s children who sustained injuries as Ndayisenga tried to kill her as well.

Iradukunda was Ndayisenga’s step-daughter.
Police Spokesman Willy Higiro yesterday attributed the deadly incident to domestic misunderstandings and police won’t carry out any more investigations.

Neighbours said Ndayisenga and his wife used to fight regularly in the night due to misunderstandings. The couple’s bodies were buried yesterday at Remera cemetery. Musabende was a Genocide survivor.

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