The arrest of the suspected killer

Col. Helmenegilde Harimeshi, the police spokesman, announced the arrest of the suspected killer during a press briefing on Tuesday September 9th.-By C.B and E.N translated from French by J.Berchmans Siboniyo

Christian Claude Butoyi, the suspected killer of the three nuns ©Iwacu

Some hours after the murders, the police announce that the killer is caught. Media are called to see the suspect. Who is it? A young man with tangled, tousled and uncombed hair, totally calm, with no fear for the cameras or the array of journalists.
The young man is named Chritian Claude Butoyi, according to the police spokesman. He was a refugee in the DRC during the crisis in Burundi, where studied before coming back to Burundi 8 years ago. The police show the media the stuff he had on him during the arrest: a shirt soaked in blood, a stone with some blood and a cell phone. In his speech, Mr. Harimeshi says that the suspect has raped the three nuns before killing them. He adds that the suspect was arrested at 1 AM on Tuesday morning in Mirango quarter, Kamenge commune.

Arrest based on SMS

“The cell phone belonged to Sr. Lucia”, says the police spokesman. “The suspect sold it to an inhabitant of Kamenge. The latter found some SMSes in Italian in the phone’s inbox. The police were called and proceeded to arrest Chritian Butoyi.” The spokesman also states that during the arrest process, the suspect had two keys of the convent in his pocket. The police say Chritian Claude had planned killing four nuns but only killed two. Then he went with the keys so as to come back and kill the remaining nuns of his list. Why? “Because they are foreigners and live on the parcel of his family.”
When asked if he had reported the case to the court or to the local administration, he says “he had no time for that”. Col. Harimeshi concludes by saying that the investigation is continuing, in order to find more facts and make a complete file on the accused criminal. However, after the arrest, Kamenge residents found it hard to trust the police.

Kamenge residents mistrust the arrest

Bukuru, the twin brother of the suspected killer ©Iwacu

M.K lives at Mirango quarter. “It is obvious: the guy is the scapegoat to stop investigations or protect the real criminals. The boy is mentally ill, everybody knows him here at Kamenge. Even his twin brother is crazy”, he says. Another source declares that the suspect was arrested Tuesday morning: “The policemen seized him at the 8th avenue at about 7h30. He had spent the night in a house under construction where he has been living for months.”
“In that house without doors or windows there is an old mat on which he always sleeps”, states our source. According to the same source, three policemen came first. Then a pick-up full of policemen followed. According to our source’s, the suspect says little and is not dangerous to the extent of killing. Another source living in Gikizi quarter in the same commune shares this view. “The arrested boy is mentally ill. He spends all his time wandering the streets. People feed him for free and then he goes searching for places where he can spend night.” She adds that he was never in the street after 6PM. and she doesn’t understand how he could kill two nuns and come back at 2AM to kill the third one.