The High Court in Nyarugenge on Wednesday, January 18 adjourned the appeal hearing of Wang Yang Jian to March 15 this year, after his lawyer said he couldn’t make it due to sickness. Wang was acquitted in 2019 on rape charges after a judge in the Nyarugenge Primary Court ruled there wasn’t enough evidence to pin him. The plaintiff appealed right away. The plaintiff, who used to work for Jian at his restaurant, Beijing Restaurant and Hotel in Kiyovu as a waiter, accused him of raping her in 2018. Part of the evidence presented before the court were medico-legal reports confirming forced sex and testimonies from police officers that reported on-site to rescue the victim in the middle of the night of the alleged incident. Wang was nevertheless found not guilty, a ruling the plaintiff appealed immediately. After about three years of waiting for a response, the appeal hearing was slated for January 18 but was adjourned due to apparent sickness of the defendant and his continued search for a translator, according to his lawyer who was present in court. The case in 2019 gained national attention when a member of the plaintiff’s family expressed the victim’s frustration on how long it was taking for justice to be served. “My cousin was tied down and raped by her boss in Kigali. She called the police and they reported it immediately. She received medical care and evidence of rape was collected the same day. It’s been more than two months today and she hasn’t been called to court,” the family member wrote on her Twitter account in January 2019. The reactions to the tweet came in fast, with the then Minister of Justice, Johnston Busingye intervening and instructing the Prosecutor General to follow up. The Prosecutor General at the time, Jean Bosco Mutangana, told The New Times in an interview that his office was following up on the case and the suspect was summoned by investigators, released, and re-arrested on his orders. Until June 2019, the defendant was seeking bail because he “couldn’t eat Rwandan food served in prison.” Bail was denied, but he eventually was found not guilty due to insufficient evidence.
