Musanze Intermediate Court on Tuesday remanded Augustin Ndabereye, the former Musanze District vice mayor in charge of economic development, pending the substantive trial which is scheduled to begin on January 29. Ndabereye faces two charges of assault and battery and harassment of his spouse, and has been in custody since August last year. The crime of assault and battery took place during the night of August 29 last year at the couple’s home in Musanze. He had earlier sought bail having appealed against a decision by Muhoza Primary Court to remand him, pending further investigation before the substantive trial. The accused had told court that if granted bail, he would stay out of his matrimonial home, saying he would rent a separate house. He had also offered sureties including his parents, friends and relatives. Reading the bail ruling, Judge Sophonie Munyawera said that after carefully examining the case, court dismissed the sureties the defendant had presented, saying they were invalid. Justice Munyawera ruled that the court found the sureties questionable that the defendant provided, noting that he failed to avail a certificate of integrity which is issued by grassroots leaders for all his sureties. He went on to announce that Ndabereye must be remanded until the substantive trial begins next week on January 29th. Ndabereye and his lawyer Donath Habimana, were not the court as justice Munyawera made the ruling. Ndabereye was fired on September 3 together with his former boss, Jean-Damascène Habyarimana and the vice mayor for social affairs, Marie-Claire Uwamariya. The trio was fired by the District Advisory Council over a litany of offenses including corruption, failure to execute the district master plan, poor service delivery, and gross misconduct.
