The High Court of Kigali on Monday upheld a lower court’s decision to remand a man suspected of trafficking out of the country three women whom prosecution says he took to Uganda. The suspect, Claver Twagirumukiza, a long distance truck driver, allegedly took the women and subjected them to sexual slavery, according to the prosecutors. Passing the verdict on Monday evening, High Court president Charles Kaliwabo said there was reasonable ground for the Narugenge Intermediate Court to remand the suspect as investigations continued. The judge ruled that the fact that there is missing evidence in the case, should not justify the request by Twagirumukiza and his lawyer that he be released for lack of incriminating evidence. The decision, he said, was also premised on the fact that available evidence shows that Twagirumukiza sneaked the three girls out of the country in a baggage compartment of his truck and there being no record of them leaving the country. This is despite the fact that the suspect himself accepts that he took the girls to Uganda to get them employment at a bar he owns. Kaliwabo said that this was a serious case that required thorough investigations in both countries, thereby granting the request by prosecutors to provisionally detain the suspect pending conclusion of the investigations. Upon completion of investigations, the case will return to the Nyarugenge Intermediate Court for substantive hearing. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
