A Rwandan man has confessed to many charges, including the murder of 12 women and two men in a high profile case that shocked the country.
Denis Kazungu, 34, allegedly buried his victims in his kitchen.
Police discovered the crime earlier this month after he was evicted from his rented accommodation in Kicukiro, a suburb of the capital, Kigali.
The case was heard to determine whether Mr. Kazungu should remain in custody. The judge will make a decision on September 26.
Kazungu, who had no legal representation, appeared calm and composed during the hearing and when asked to answer, he said in a firm voice that he was “guilty”.
He tried to justify his crime by claiming that the victims “deliberately infected him with AIDS” but did not provide any proof of this.
The state of Mr. Kazungu’s mental health is unclear, but he appeared healthy when he asked the court to stop the case, a request the court refused.
“I have committed an extreme crime and I do not want to be reported in the media,” he said.
Kazungu was arrested after his landlord reported him to the police for not paying rent for seven months.
”A police officer told Rwanda’s private newspaper, The New Times, that he started a fight when they chased him away. “He apologized and cried excessively, which raised our suspicions,” the officer said.
”We held him and I personally took him to the police. It was at the police station that he confessed to killing some people, causing Rib [Rwanda’s Bureau of Investigation] to search his residence.” Rib’s spokesman said he lured his victims, mostly sex workers, to his home and robbed them. Then ” He strangled them to death and buried them in a hole dug in the kitchen of his tenement house”.
Investigators have not yet revealed the names of all of Kazungu’s suspects.
