Nyarugenge Intermediate Court has rejected an appeal for bail filed by a suspect in the murder case of a female student at the University of Rwandas College of Science and Technology in September. The suspect, Emmanuel Nsengimana, is one of the two men that were arrested following the death of Sandrine Imanishimwe, a first-year student at the University who was found dead on the school campus in Kigali. 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 with conspiring to murder the young lady. In a subsequent pre-trial ruling, court remanded both men, a decision that Nsengimana decided to appeal while his co-accused did not appeal against the decision. The court’s decision was based on evidence presented by the prosecution, among which it said that the duo had during the preliminary investigations admitted to having committed the act. They had told investigators that they strangled the victim using a scarf before they hit her on the head with a metallic object, killing her. Appearing before the intermediate court late last month for the appeal, Nsengimana 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 stand 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 court were not directly implicating him, but Niyigaba; and they should not be linked to him. To justify the motive, prosecution had earlier 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 which was far from the scene of the alleged murder in Kigali. 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. In a ruling that happened today at the intermediate court, the presiding judge said that there are reasons for Nsengimana to remain in custody while the case proceeds in substance, “The court has found that there are reasons to uphold the primary court’s decision to keep you in custody while the case proceeds in substance,” he said.
