{"id":7973,"date":"2013-05-22T06:20:16","date_gmt":"2013-05-22T06:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/4-plead-guilty-in-first-public-trial-of-drugs\/"},"modified":"2013-05-22T06:20:09","modified_gmt":"2013-05-22T06:20:09","slug":"4-plead-guilty-in-first-public-trial-of-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/4-plead-guilty-in-first-public-trial-of-drugs\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Plead Guilty in First Public Trial of Drugs Suspects"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n

{{Four suspects including; Daniel Mutebutsi, Innocent Ndagijimana, Dederi Mutijima and Jean Damascene Byiringiro pleaded guilty of consuming cannabis after court, which held the first ever public hearing.}}<\/p>\n

The public trial held at Kivugiza Primary School and attended by students, teachers, motorcycle operators and residents of Nyamirambo, was part of the campaign to fight drug abuse, which is rated high in the country and among the youth.<\/p>\n

Two other suspects denied the charges.<\/p>\n

Mutebutsi, on his part, argued that he was taking the illegal drug as medicine after his colleague prescribed it to him.<\/p>\n

He told court that he had stomach illness.<\/p>\n

\u201cA friend of mine told me that if I mix cannabis in tea, it will heal my stomach pain,\u201d Mutebutsi told court.<\/p>\n

At the time of his arrest, Mutebutsi was found in possession of rolls of cannabis.<\/p>\n

However, when the presiding judge asked him if a person, who prescribed him the medicine was a medical doctor, Mutebutsi only said he had no idea if the substance he was using was cannabis.<\/p>\n

Prosecution requested a two-year sentence for Mutebutsi and a fine of Rwf200, 000.<\/p>\n

Prosecution also requested various sentences for other suspects, which are also below three years and various fines above Rwf50, 000.<\/p>\n

The maximum sentence of anyone found guilty of consuming narcotic drugs, under article 594 of the penal code, is three years and a fine of Rwf500, 000.<\/p>\n

Chief Prosecutor of the Nyamirambo-based Nyarugenge Intermediate Court, Mr. Rugambwa Ndibwami, also said the public trial of suspects connected to narcotics related crimes \u201cis in line with the prosecution\u2019s efforts to fight and prevent drug abuse in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want such cases to be tried in presence of the public, especially in places where these crimes were committed so that people know the repercussions of such crimes,\u201d Mr. Ndibwami stated.<\/p>\n

Senior Superintendent, Urbain Mwiseneza, the Central Region Police Spokesperson pointed out that drug dealings fuel other crimes like defilement, assault and theft.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have concrete measures to counter drug related crimes,\u201d he said, urging the public to maintain the cooperation with security organs to have the vice prevented.<\/p>\n

The public trail of drugs suspects was also welcomed by teachers, students, motorists and parents, who said that it will send stern message to those involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cNarcotics are enemies to a human being,\u201d Mr. Oscar Mugenga, a primary six teacher at Kivugiza primary school, who also attended the hearing, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis (public trial) is a good thing. As a school, we have also strengthened measures to protect pupils from such dangerous substances,\u201d Mr. Mugenga said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Mugenga urged students to shun narcotics, concentrate on studies and importantly share information with school administration about anyone involved in such acts.<\/p>\n

Jean Damascene Bigirabagabo, a taxi motor operator in Nyamirambo also echoed the same message adding that drugs are \u201cvery dangerous to one\u2019s health\u201d and urged people involved in narcotics and illicit drugs to \u201cdistance themselves from the life-harmful substance\u201d and engage in developmental activities.<\/p>\n

He appealed to fellow motorcyclists to partner with Police and other security organs to ensure that crimes in general and drug dealings in particular, are prevented.<\/p>\n

Court adjourned the case to May 31, when the ruling will be read.<\/p>\n

{RNP}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{{Four suspects including; Daniel Mutebutsi, Innocent Ndagijimana, Dederi Mutijima and Jean Damascene Byiringiro pleaded guilty of consuming cannabis after court, which held the first ever public hearing.}} The public trial held at Kivugiza Primary School and attended by students, teachers, motorcycle operators and residents of Nyamirambo, was part of the campaign to fight drug abuse, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-7973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7973\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7973"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=7973"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=7973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}