Huye murder suspects denied bail

HUYE – The Intermediate Court of Huye has denied bail to the executive secretary of Kigoma sector, Festus Habyarimana, along with three others for murder charges, and instead remanded them for 30 days in prison.The suspects, who were arraigned before court for the first time on Thursday, are accused of the murder of two people last week.Besides Habyarimana, the co-accused are Police constables Fabiola Uwiragiye and Frank Rugamba as well as Steven Karemera a.k.a Maridadi, a reservist. A fifth suspect, reservist David Ngezahayo, who was cited in the case on Thursday but was not available in the court for unspecified reasons.While reading the verdict, Judge Mbishibishi Mulisa, said the gravity of the case does not merit bail.He stated that the four suspects made contradictory accounts on how the murder occurred dismissing their self-defence theory as a ploy.The judge also ruled that the prosecution had adduced enough evidence which indicates the suspects who were supposed to be supervising a night patrol (irondo) when the incident occurred, deviated from their duty to confront the victims terming this as breach of the law. “Because the accused are people with authority who might frustrate investigations efforts, because the crime they are standing accused of is of a serious nature and that the prosecution has produced enough evidence linking them [the suspects] with the crime, the court rules that all the suspects be remanded to Karubanda (Butare) prison for 30 days while investigations continue”, the judge ruled.Earlier on Thursday, the prosecution, represented by Innocent Rukundo, had told the court that on the night of July 2, the suspects went to the house of one Laurent Sebera, 42, a resident of Kigoma sector and shot him dead together with his nephew, Innocent Mutuyimana.The prosecution recounted the incident based on preliminary investigations and witness accounts.On the same day, the suspects appeared to give conflicting accounts of the incident as to how and where the victims were shot dead and what arms they were carrying.One of the suspects, Fabiola Uwiragiye, who appeared to have wounds on the left-back side of his head, told the court on Thursday that before the shooting took place, he fled for 50 to 100 metres to save his life from the victims who were brandishing machetes.“I was struck twice with a machete and I realised I was going to die. I later returned and shot at them (the two victims) as I had no choice since I was acting in self-defence.”On his part, the executive secretary told court that when the victims came out of their house, the victims immediately attacked them prompting the policeman to shoot in self-defence.Habyarimana told The New Times that they would appeal against the decision.

National

Huye murder suspects denied bail