The former managing editor of ‘The Chronicles’ one of the main independent Rwanda newspapers, Dr Christopher Kayumba has asked to move his trial for rape from closed door to a public hearing, a judicial source revealed on Sunday.
The trial is scheduled to resume on October14 but the defendant asked to be allowed to address the court in public before the close of the trial.
Dr. Christopher Kayumba was arrested after a long-time investigation on rape and attempt to rape crimes he was accused of multiple times.
Accusations that Kayumba sexually assaulted one of his female students while he was lecturer at the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Rwanda became public in March last year which prompted judicial police to launch an investigation about the crime.
Following the accusations against Dr Kayumba in March he was summoned to answer on charges against him.
A former student at the University of Rwanda came out recently and testified that her lecturer then, Dr. Christopher Kayumba, assaulted her and attempted to force her into a sexual encounter in his house.
“He pulled and pushed me on the couch trying to force me to sleep with him [sexual intercourse],” a friend to the student narrated her ordeal in a Twitter thread.
Apparently, the lady managed to escape Kayumba’s assault, but she said she has since felt “an eternity of emotional and psychological torture.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Kayumba denies the allegations.
“That’s not true, and that lady who tweeted the allegations is paid to spread propaganda, nothing else,” Dr Kayumba said.
CU/as/APA