Gasabo Intermediate Court has sentenced Olive Mukangenzi, a Bugesera District resident, to life imprisonment, after convicting her of murder of a neighbour's three-year-old son.

According to prosecutors, the child went missing on August 17 last year. After a week of searching, his lifeless body was found in a pit latrine at Mukangenzi’s home in Mayange Sector, Kagenge Cell.

The court heard that the child had been at Mukangenzi's home before he went missing.

During a hearing held on January 16, a number of testimonies pinning Mukangenzi to the murder were shared, especially those from her own children, who told the court that their mother stabbed the child in the head and neck with a knife, and after smashed him against the wall.

They further testified that Mukangenzi warned them not to reveal what had happened, threatening that anyone who spoke would suffer the same fate.

In a verdict handed down on January 16, the ruled that Mukangenzi was responsible for the death of the child Gael Hilton Muvunyi.

Evariste Nsengumuremyi, who had been charged as an accomplice, was acquitted. The court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to link the bicycle rider to the murder and ordered his immediate release.

Prosecutors had alleged that Nsengumuremyi had an intimate relationship with Mukangenzi and that he had facilitated the crime by buying alcohol for her on the day of the murder.