Justice Minister Johnston Busingye says the suspects will be found and punished seriously
A fierce manhunt is on for night watchmen who last night set fire into a tunnel in Kigali’s central business district – instantly burning to death two street kids that were hiding there.
The incident has prompted outrage at the highest levels in government, with Justice Minister Johnstone Busingye calling it a “deliberate act to harm” the kids.
According to police, around 4am Friday morning three night watchmen are suspected to have started the fire.
Witnesses says the guards were attempting to force the teenagers out. To light the fire, a highly inflamable substance was poured into the tunnel. The suspects disappeared leaving the victims in a raging blaze.
By the time help arrived from police and onlookers, the victims had sustained serious burns. One of them survived and is in intensive care at Kigali’s main referral hospital.
“The suspects are currently on the run,” said police spokesman ACP Theos Badege. “We appeal to anyone with information to help arrest the suspects.”
The permanent secretary of the gender and family promotion ministry Nadine Umutoni, Kigali city mayor Pascal Nyamulinda and police spokesman Badege visited the surviving teenager in hospital on Friday afternoon. Doctors say his life is out of danger.
“Police have credible information on the suspects who are on the run, and they are hunting for them,” said Minister Busingye, adding, “This is unacceptable.”
“Initial investigations indicate that this may have been a deliberate act to harm these youth….The suspects will be apprehended and prosecuted to the full extent of the law for this hideous crime.”
UPDATED 11pm:
KT Press has since established that the 3rd teenager who had survived the attack, has died. The 17-year-old took his last breath in the presence of his mom, sisters and grandma who were beside him at the hospital.
