Siblings plead guilty to father’s murder

Two men accused of murdering their father, Faustin Munyazikuye, last year, pleaded guilty to the charges during a public hearing in Rwamagana District on Tuesday. Jean Marie Vianney Hategikimana, 23, and Emmanuel Hakizimana, 20, were appearing before Ngoma Intermediate Court sitting in Rwamagana. Their co-accused, Beatrice Kampire, their mother, however, denied the charges. The trial was conducted in a public square amidst tension with residents demanding capital punishment for the offenders. Area residents listened in disbelief as the suspects narrated how they used a machete and an axe to chop off the head of their father. “Our family was embroiled in wrangles and violence between our parents…we were not getting food. So, one night our mother called us at night while our father slept. She told us the only way to end the wrangles was to kill our father which we did using a machete and an axe,” said the duo. “My mother held the head as I cut the throat of our father with a sharp machete, while my brother used an axe to crash his head,” said Emmanuel Hakizimana. Prosecution prayed court to hand life sentence to the suspects as stipulated by article 142 of the Penal Code.“We talked to many close relatives, neighbours and local leaders in regard to the murder…exhibits, eyewitnesses, medical and local leaders reports all implicate the suspects beyond any doubt,” prosecutor Emmanuel Gahamanyi told court. “We request that the suspects be sentenced to life in jail as they pleaded guilty.” Prosecution accuses the suspects of deliberately claiming the life of their father in cold-blooded murder. “We have decided to conduct the trial in a public space...justice must ought to be dispensed in a place where the crime was committed. We brought the hearing here as a way to deter potential criminals from similar acts,” said Judge Jean de Dieu Mucyo. Meanwhile local leaders said public hearings for murder cases of that nature were important in deterring potential criminals. Alphonse Karango Niyonzima, the executive secretary of Nyakariro Sector, said the public trial gave lessons to communities that murder is a crime that should not be tolerated. “The chilling account given by the two brothers left everyone dumb folded, but offered lessons. The narration of cold-blooded murder of a man by his sons was beyond imagination. It is a lesson to everyone…the possible punishment sends out a message to killers that right to human life is valuable and that Rwanda has no room for such crimes,” he said. The court is due to deliver its verdict on February 5. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Siblings plead guilty to father’s murder