Kicukiro Primary Court has sent Dieudonne Ishimwe, commonly known as ‘Prince Kid’ on a 30-day remand, after the judge denied him bail. Ishimwe, the CEO of Rwanda Inspirational Backup, the company that organised the Miss Rwanda beauty pageant was pinned on three charges; rape, soliciting or offering sexual favours, and harassment. On the charge of soliciting or offering sexual favours and harassment, the presiding judge ruled that according to different accounts presented by the prosecution, there was justification to suspect Ishimwe committed these crimes. However, for the crime of rape and intoxicating one of the contestants, the judge found that there was no reasonable grounds to accuse him of that crime. Ishimwe will be remanded pending further investigations. Ishimwe and his lawyer, who were present in court during the bail ruling, were reminded by the judge that he had five days to appeal for that decision, and he immediately said that they are going to appeal. The appellate court in this case is the Nyarugenge Intermediate Court. The pre-trial hearing took place on May 13, and was conducted in camera (closed to the public); a decision that came after the judge said that the dossier includes elements that can endanger public morals. Kid appeared before the court for the first time on May 11 when the trial was postponed to give his lawyer access to the indictment from the electronic case management system. He was arrested on April 26 over charges related to sexual abuse towards contestants of the beauty pageant on various occasions. Ishimwe started organising Miss Rwanda in 2014 through his company, which has seen the annual event become one of the most popular in the country. However, recently the government dismissed his company from organising the annual beauty pageant, following several allegations of misconduct and abuse towards contestants. Meanwhile, the case of Miss Elsa Iradukunda has been handed over to the National Public Prosecution Authority. She is accused of attempting to subvert criminal investigations into various crimes related to sexual abuse that were slapped on Prince Kid— who is also believed to be her boyfriend.
