Burundian child kidnappers jailed
Dec 22, 2011
THE High Court in Kampala has jailed two Burundi nationals for kidnapping a child with intent to secure a ransom.
By Hillary Nsambu
THE High Court in Kampala has sentenced two Burundi nationals Solange Nyiransabimana and Andrew Hategekimana to two and six years imprisonment respectively for kidnapping a child with intent to secure a ransom.
Delivering the judgment for Hategekimana on Wednesday, Justice Albert Rugadya-Atwooki also ordered that the two convict should be immediately deported back to Burundi upon completion of their custodial sentences.
Nyiransabimana, 21 and Hategekimana, 65, were indicted for the kidnap of- five-year-old boy, Keiden King Lubowa, grandson of city tycoon Godfrey Kirumira from whom they had demanded a ransom of sh200m before they could release the kid.
The boy is the son of Patrick and Mrs Lubowa, residents of Kansanga Kiwafu Zone in Makindye Diviision, in whose home Nyaransabimana was employed as a maid for just a month. She had been hired from Bags Agency Limited.
George Atria, who had been employed in the same home as a watchman and had been held as a third suspect, was freed by the court after the DPP found that there was no evidence implicating him in the offence.
The judge said that he had considered Nyiransabimana’s being remorseful during her mitigation and that she had wasted no court’s time by admitting the offence. He also agreed with defence counsel Duncan Ondimu that the sentence should be reformatory.
Earlier, Senior State Attorney Badru Mulindwa had asked the court to pass a deterrent sentence considering that currently there is rampant kidnap of children for various purposes including sacrifice and securing ransoms like in the instant case and for child labour; adding that the court could help curb the practice by passing harsh sentences to the offenders.
The judge found Hategekimana, 65, guilty of the offence of kidnap after a full trial. He said that he had found the convict an accomplice despite his denial in participating in the commission of the offence.
The prosecution had told the court that on July 24, 2010 the minor’s parents, as usual, left home for work at around 7:00am and the child un custody of Nyiransabimana. However, at around 1:00 pm she left home with the child, claiming that she was going out to buy airtime with the victim and would return soon.
However, as the parents became more concerned they received a call from unknown caller directing them to a written note under a microwave, which upon reading it demanded for sh200m if the kid’s parents wished to have their child back alive.
However, after a thorough search by the police, Nyransabimana was arrested on July 25, 2010 in the home of Hategekimana who was hiding her together with the victim. The minor was found unhurt and no ransom had been paid yet.