WESTERN PROVINCE

RUBAVU — Police in Nyakabungo zone in Gisenyi, acting on a tip off, this week arrested a woman suspected to have burnt her step son allegedly for stealing Fr7500.

During the arrest, the woman whose names were not easily established alleged that the boy, Kayonga Ishimwe, 12, stole the money his father- Peter Kalisa had left behind meant for food.

According to their neighbours, the woman kept the boy in the house the whole day; without medical treatment after the incident.

The boy [Ishimwe] claimed that his step mother tied his legs and hands and used a jerrycan to burn him, the claim denied by the mother.

The mother claimed the boy was burnt by his father [Kalisa] who is on the run. However, Ishimwe admitted stealing the money, saying it was out of starvation.

"I have spent many days without food. And I have not been going to school because my father could not afford tuition,” Ishimwe said in grief.

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