Varsity student who killed mother to spend life in jail

Twenty-five is just a silver jubilee in terms of age. It spells that time when people are completing their studies and dreaming of six-figure-salary jobs. But for Donat Kubwayo, there will be no such a dream anymore, especially if he appeals the life sentence he received yesterday and still loses.The National University of Rwanda third year student of Economics was, yesterday, sentenced to life in prison for killing his mother.A judge of the itinerant chamber of the High Court in Nyanza district said Kubwayo was guilty of ‘barbarically’ murdering his mother, Anastasie Mukabaruta, 63.The incident occurred on April 19 in Nkomane sector, Nyamagabe district in Southern Province.In the verdict, Justice Emmanuel Manirakiza said the court found the accused guilty of matricide. The judge said the court “tried vainly to find any mitigating circumstances, but only found aggravating ones.”Citing the Penal Code and drawing from the work of legal scholars as well as other court cases for the matter of jurisprudence, the judge said Kubwayo deserved the sentence.“Because he had hatched a plan to murder and, obviously, killed his mother in the most cruel of ways, and because he is an intellectual, who knew well that he was committing murder, the court finds him guilty and has decided to hand him the highest sentence–life in prison,” judge Manirakiza said.The court also rejected allegations that the accused committed the murder in revenge because her mother had allegedly been mistreating him for many years. The judge said there were no substantial evidence to support the allegation.Kubwayo was not in court when the verdict was pronounced.The killingKubwayo was arrested a few hours after committing the crime, in an incident which was earlier described as “rare and extremely shocking.”While appearing in court, last week, he had pleaded guilty to murdering his mother and recounted how he hatched and executed the plan.Kubwayo, in his confession, narrated how he took a sickle, followed her aging mother who was heading to a market to sell peas and pounced on her from behind. Kubwayo slit her throat. He also attacked his sister, who had rushed to the scene after hearing her raise the alarm.