CASE N° RPA 0041/08/CS Page |1 THE SUPREME COURT SITTING IN KIGALI HEARING CRIMINAL CASES, PUBLICLY DECIDES ON CASE N° RPA 0041/08/CS ON 25/02/2011 AS FOLLOWS: PARTIES: PUBLIC PROSECUTION Versus Ngendabanga, son of Uzakunda Appolinaire and Nyandwi Bernadette, born in Murambi, Rususa-Nyaruguru Sector in 1982, bachelor, farmer, first time offender OFFENCE Having on the evening of 20/07/2002, in Rususa, Nyaruguru District, Gikongoro Province at the time, raped an 11-year-old girl named Uwamariya, a felony punishable under Article 34 of Law No. 27 / 2001 of 28/04/2001. I. FACTS AND PROCEDURE 1. On the evening of 20/07/2002 at around 6:30 pm, Niyirora Francine, the mother of Uwamariya, sent her to pick up the firewood in the coffee plantation. She went together with Ngendabanga who had come to borrow a bag. Uwamariya returned home around 7 a.m. crying and told her mother that Ngendabanga had raped her. The mother looked at the child's skirt and saw the semen, and hurried to tell Ngendabanga's father about his son's actions, and the latter replied that he did not ask him to do so. The crime was reported to the police. A medical report dated 23/07/2002 reveals that the girl had had sex, that her hymen was not still intact. Both in the Judicial Police, in the Prosecution, and in Court (Chambre du Conseil), Ngendabanga pleaded guilty but said the girl consented to it. 2. In the judgment RP 694/5/03 passed on 06/11/2003 where Ngendabanga denied that he had ever met the girl, the Court of First Instance convicted him on the basis of his earlier confession, the statement of the girl’s mother whom Ngendabanga did not accuse of any bias against him, and a medical report explaining that Uwamariya had been sexually abused, and sentenced him to life imprisonment and a fine of 50,000 frw.