By Sophan Niwamanya
apearlnews.com
The High Court in Kabale has today sentenced a 45-year-old man from Rubanda district to 40 years in prison over six charges that include killing his wife and three children, arson, and assault after he pleaded guilty to the charges.
The court heard from the prosecution that on June 16, 2021, around 10:00 p.m., while at Habutobere village, Butare parish, Muko Sub County, Rubanda district, Vianny Armstrong Ahimbisibwe burned his wife, Rovina Muheki, in the house together with his children Edwin Tumworobere, aged 17, Westlife Akampumuriza, aged 15, and Maria Akira Ekinamushabire, and assaulted his son Bob Mathias Muheki, aged 12. Ahimbisibwe disappeared from the scene until the night of the following day, when he was arrested from his hiding when he was trying to get his way out of Rubanda district. However, Ahimbisibwe pleaded guilty to the charges.
Now, today, while delivering judgment, the high court judge sitting in Kikungiri in Kabale Municipality, who was presided over by Justice Samuel Emokor, said that Ahimbisibwe was at first disarmed with a panga, which he wanted to use to kill the family, and later used petrol to set the family ablaze, which indicated that he had ill intentions to finish his family.
He sentenced him to 40 years on each account of the four murder cases: 15 years for arson by setting a blaze in the house where the victims were sleeping and 2 years for assaulting Mathias, who is the only survivor in the family. Justice Emokor deducted one year and eight months, during which the convict has been on remand at Ndorwa government prison, from each of the charges, meaning that he will serve 38 years and four months concurrently, considering that he did not waste the court’s time since he pleaded guilty to the charges.
Speaking to our reporter late after the judgment, the Kigezi Region Police Spokesperson, Elly Maate, who witnessed the court’s
The judgment commended the court for the ruling, saying that credit goes to the police, who compiled all the evidence to pin the convict. He asked the people to always desist from taking laws into their own hands.
