One of the two suspects charged with the murder of a 21-year-old female student from the University of Rwanda has appealed against a decision by a lower court to remand the two. The suspect, Emmanuel Nsengimana is one of the two men that were arrested following the death of Sandrine Imanishimwe, a student at the University of Rwanda’s College of Science and Technology. Imanishimwe was found dead in the Kigali-based university campus on September 8. Nsengimana, together with Emile Niyigaba who is said to have been the deceased’s boyfriend, were late September arraigned before the Nyarugenge Primary Court where they were charged for conspiring to murder the young lady. During the initial hearing, prosecution had said that the duo had admitted to the act during the preliminary investigations. They had made this confession during an interrogation that followed their arrest, where they said that they strangled Imanishimwe using a scarf before they hit her on the head with a metallic object. The two however recanted the guilty plea when they appeared before court back in September, saying that they made the admission under duress. In a bail ruling at the time, court remanded both men, a decision that Nsengimana decided to appeal. Niyibizi, who is the prime suspect, did not appeal. Appearing in court Monday, he maintained that his admission to have taken part in the murder were as a result of torture. He further insisted that he was in Huye on the night of September 8 when the murder was committed, and he only came to Kigali the next morning. Nsengimana also questioned prosecution’s testimony concerning phone calls that he had with Niyigaba, saying that the conversations they had were not about plotting to kill the girl. He also cited that other testimonies presented to the court were not directly implicating him, but Niyigaba; and they should not be linked to him. Among the testimonies presented earlier in court, Prosecution said that Niyigaba and his girlfriend Imanishimwe had challenges in their relationship, and only a day before she was killed, she had written to him calling it off. Supporting Nsengimana’s claim that he was not in Kigali on September 8, his lawyer told court that his client had an alibi placing him in his home village in Huye on the fateful night. The prosecutor, however, prayed that court closely scrutinizes any evidence the accused present to justify that he was not in Kigali on that night, saying that Huye is only about three hours’ drive to Kigali. She added that even if it is true that Nsengimana had spent the day in Huye, it would be easy for him to travel and be in Kigali by 8 PM with a plan to commit the crime. The presiding judge said that the appeal ruling will be on November 4. He also urged Nsengimana and his lawyer to produce the bus ticket on which Nsengimana traveled to Kigali on the morning of September 9 and present it to court.
