Three years into serving her life sentence, Solange Nyirangiruwonsanga, now 40-year-old, and a mother of five, has appealed her conviction for the murder of a nine-year-old boy in Gasabo District, where she worked as a housemaid.

The High Court in Kigali heard her appeal on October 15, in which she challenged the Gasabo Intermediate Court’s decision of July 25, 2022, that found her guilty of murder and sentenced her to life imprisonment. She is seeking acquittal, maintaining that she never killed the child.

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The case dates back to June 12, 2022, when the young boy was found dead in his home in Ndera Sector, where Nyirangiruwonsanga was employed. The incident attracted public attention, prompting the lower court to relocate the case’s hearings to the scene of the crime, near Ndera Sub-Parish Catholic Church, to allow local residents to follow the proceedings.

Appearing before the High Court in a pink prison uniform, Nyirangiruwonsanga represented herself, saying the lower court ignored several facts that could have revealed the truth.

"I never killed the child,” she told the judges. "The court disregarded many things that would have proven my innocence.”

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Asked by the presiding judge to specify which facts were ignored, she explained that the court failed to consider her statement that the boy had been playing outside before the incident.

"I told the court that he was playing outside, and I warned him to stop. Later, when I went inside the house, I found him lifeless,” she said.

Nyirangiruwonsanga said the lower court wrongly interpreted the closed gate as evidence of her guilt. "They said the closed gate meant I was the only one who could have done it. But that was not a reason, I had no problems with the family and had only worked there for a short time,” she said.

The prosecution, however, asked the High Court to uphold the life sentence, arguing that Nyirangiruwonsanga was only changing her version of events to mislead the court.

Prosecutors stated that while she did not admit to strangling the child, her account during investigations indicated involvement.

During the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) inquiry she allegedly admitted to helping the child reach a piece of cloth he used to hang himself on, saying she wanted to show him "how to swing.”

The prosecution reconstructed the scene and reported that the door measured 1.80 metres in height, while the chair used measured 70 centimetres. The boy was 1.58 metres tall, which meant that he could not have reached the cloth without assistance.

"The difference in height shows that she helped the boy reach the cloth. This was not suicide, it was deliberate,” the prosecutor argued.

The prosecution also pointed out that Nyirangiruwonsanga did not seek help immediately after the child was found unconscious, despite the presence of nearby mechanics and neighbours. "Instead, she walked to the boy’s mother’s nearby shop and told her to come home, without mentioning what had happened,” the prosecutor said.

It was heard in court that among the reasons she is requesting the acquittal is to return to her children. She argued that she never killed him saying that as a mother, she knows the pain of losing a child and she would never do that to someone’s child.

The High Court is expected to deliver its verdict on November 12.