Siblings arrested for killing mother over land

Ngoma–Police in Ngoma district are holding two people for allegedly killing their mother over a plot of land.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Ngoma–Police in Ngoma district are holding two people for allegedly killing their mother over a plot of land.The deceased was identified as Fatuma Mukamunana, 61.The 35-year old son and daughter, 30, allegedly murdered the elderly woman in cold blood over the week-end.According to local residents, like all mothers, Mukamunana, never stopped loving her children but she endured years of abuse from them during which they often drove her out of her own house.Shock engulfed Murama Sector following the gruesome incident, with relatives mourning uncontrollably and demanding justice to take its course. Several residents lined up in Nvumba village to view the body. One of them who clutched her stomach, her eyes fixed on the deceased’s body on the ground, sobbed, "No mother deserves this. Imagine, a mother to get killed by own children.”Neighbours said the deceased and the children were always at loggerheads, and often times fighting.Beatrice Gahongayire, a daughter not implicated, recalled how one time his brother beat their mother near to death."She was beaten and left to die...the matter was solved out of court”.However, speaking from police, the suspects said their mother committed suicide, an assertion Said Ndagijimana, a neighbour, disputed."The daughter demanded for more land yet she had had her piece, before she divorced. The demand was followed by the death the next day...the sequence of events leading to her death are clear, not suicide but murder,” Ndagijimana said.