Gasabo Intermediate Court has handed Solange Nyirangiruwonsanga a life sentence after being convicted of murdering a nine-year-old boy in the Gasabo district. Nyirangiruwonsanga, a 37-year-old mother of five, was a maid in the victim’s home. The court issued the verdict on Monday, July 25 at Ndera sub-parish Catholic Church where the court had previously tried her near the crime scene. According to the presiding judge, the sentence comes after the court analysed the merits of the case filed by prosecution against the defence that was presented by the accused during the substantive trial. The judge dismissed claims that the accused was tortured as a way of extracting a confession during the investigation, saying that she failed to provide details or show signs of torture. In addition, the judge said according to various counts, Nyirangiruwonsanga committed the crime intentionally and her action caused a big loss which led to the death of a person among other reasons. During the hearing that took place on July 15 and attended by hundreds of residents including the bereaved parents, Nyirangiruwonsanga denied the murder charges arguing that she admitted the crime to the investigation body after being tortured. In addition, she claimed that the child committed suicide due to disagreements he had with his father. She however could not provide details about the disagreement. However, the prosecution was seeking a life sentence for her arguing that they had reasonable grounds to suspect that Nyirangiruwonsanga murdered the victim including her statement of confession among others. According to the prosecution, on June 12, the victim and suspect were alone at home, and the former was eating porridge as he played with his smartphone, after which Nyirangiruwonsanga, who was a family house help, told the victim to revise his studies. He allegedly refused and instead continued playing with his phone. Furthermore, the prosecution told court that the suspect then confiscated the phone and went back to do her chores at home and after a few minutes, the boy, now angry, hit her with a stone. It was also mentioned in the court that after the incident, the suspect also got angry and minutes later, entered the house and tricked the victim into a game, where he would hang cloth on a door and use it as a swing. Later she tricked him into having the same piece of cloth around his neck. In addition, the prosecution said that the suspect that time kicked the chair he used to climb which caused strangulation. These details, according to prosecution, were provided by the suspect during the interrogation and were later corroborated by witness accounts. Nyirangiruwonsanga was arrested on June 12 and appeared before the court for the first time on July 15.
