A man in Rulindo District on Wednesday dragged his daughter (name withheld) to Murambi Police Station after she reportedly abandoned her seven-months old baby girl in the bush. The suspect, who was staying with her father, allegedly told the latter on Tuesday that she was leaving for Kigali to take the baby to its father. The following day, she returned without the baby, prompting the father to drag her to Murambi Police Station on suspicion that she could have killed the child. “My daughter had declined to tell me who the father of the baby was. On Tuesday, she surprised me with news that she was going to Kigali to take the child to its father,” the suspect’s father said. “I suspected she could have harmed the child, which prompted me to take her to Police,” he added. It is alleged that the suspect, on reaching Kigali, abandoned the baby in a wetland in Akarubimbura village, Gatsata sector, Gasabo District. Police in Gasabo confirmed that they rescued the baby on Tuesday and took her to Malaika Murinzi Orphanage in Gatsata. The baby, who was wrapped in clothes, was seen by a passersby who heard her groaning at about 7am. Senior Superintendent Urbain Mwiseneza, the Central region police spokesperson, described the act as “merciless.” Mwiseneza said the baby was first taken to Gihogwe Health Centre in Gasabo and that she is now healthy. Under the Penal Code, a parent or guardian who abandons a child in a solitary place is liable to a term of imprisonment of five to seven years and a fine of between Rwf50,000 to 200,000.
