Sector leader, constables charged with murder

HUYE–The Executive Secretary of Kigoma sector, Huye District, was on Thursday morning arraigned before the Huye Intermediate Court to answer charges related to the murder of two people in his sector last week.Festus Habyarimana, along with his co-accused, stand accused of shooting two people on July 2. Others on trial are Police Constables Fabiola Uwiragiye and Frank Rugamba and two reservists, David Ngezahayo and Steven Karemera a.k.a Maridadi.However, Ngezahayo didn’t appear in court on Thursday for unspecified reasons.The prosecution, represented by Innocent Rukundo, alleges that on the night of July 2 the suspects “invaded” the house of one Laurent Sebera in Kigoma sector and shot him dead together with his nephew, Innocent Mutuyimana.Following a scuffle, a police officer shot the victims killing them on the spot, prosecutor Rukundo told the court.The prosecution told the court that while the mission of the executive secretary and his team was supposed to be the supervision of the night community policing patrol (irondo), they rather diverted and went to disturb the safety of the victims.The sector leader had a history of misunderstanding with Sebera, one of the victims, which could have led to the murder, the prosecution told the court.“The fact that the Executive secretary took the two armed policemen and two reservists with him in his car and went to Sebera’s home late at night [between 23hrs and midnight] aware of their misunderstanding, is a clear indicator that they had planned to kill him,” prosecutor Rukundo told the court.Subsequently, prosecution requested for a 30-days period of provisional detention while they continue their investigations into the murder.However, speaking in court, Festus Habyarimana and his co-accused rejected the accusations of intentionally murdering the two residents.Habyarimana, who wore blue jeans, an orange jersey T-shit with the number ‘1’ marked in the back and kaki sandals, told the court the incident happened accidentally as they were on their daily routine night patrol. He refuted prosecution claims of an existing feud.Fabiola Uwiragiye, who reportedly shot the deceased, said he acted in self defence after being attacked with machetes by the two victims.“I was hit twice with a machete and I realised I was going to die. I turned back and shot. I had no choice; otherwise I was a dead man,” Uwiragiye, who sustained injuries on the back of his head told the court. The suspects requested the court to grant them bail.Judge Mbishibishi Mulisa is set to give the court’s decision on the bail application on Friday morning.On July 2, at around midnight, a team comprising Kigoma Executive Secretary, Habyarimana, two armed police constables and two reservists arrived at the home of one Sebera, 42, who was the leader of a local rice farmers’ cooperative. They were said to be on patrol that night and apparently heard people murmuring inside Sebera’s house.Upon arrival, they requested the man to open but he refused, according to the deceased wife, Dorothée Mukambanda, who talked to The New Times shortly after the incident.He, instead, called his nephew Innocent Mutuyimana, who lived nearby, alleging that his house had been attacked. It is when Mutuyimana arrived that Sebera attempted to escape.According to those standing accused of the murder, Sebera and Mutuyimana came out of the house armed with a machete and literally launched an attack on them; wounding one of them, Police Constable Uwiragiye. Uwiragiye told the court on Thursday: “I acted in self-defence”. However, residents and relatives of the deceased maintain the victims were shot immediately after they got out of the house.

National

Sector leader, constables charged with murder