KIGALI - Ildephonse Nkurunziza has appealed Supreme Court to reduce his 10-year jail term he was sentenced to by the Kigali High Court for attempted murder. “Your Lord, I pleaded guilty of the crime and apologised, but the court went ahead to sentence me all these years which I feel is a heavy punishment, I feel I was cheated and I am seeking justice,” Nkurunziza pleaded before a panel of judges at the Supreme Court. The 37 year old man maintained that the High Court did not consider some of his evidence. The Burundian born accuses the prosecution of not having grasped the facts correctly during the preliminary trial. “They say the crime happened at night yet it was during day,” Nkurunziza for instance cited. “I was drunk and Vincent Rwandezi, my neighbour came and beat me up, when I tried to run a way he followed me clearly with an intention of killing me and that is how I went to the neighbours to ask for a panga for self defence,” Nkurunziza told the court yesterday. Meanwhile, prosecution deemed the appeal unnecessary saying that during the earlier hearing, they had paraded witnesses who testified that Nkurunziza attacked his neighbour’s home with a flash light and a panga. “Having been with a flash light he got from his home implies he intended to kill, it could not be self defence,” charged Bonaventure Ruberwa who represented prosecution. The crime was committed in Gicaca, Musenyi sector in Bugesera District. Ends
