Rwanda ex-prison director, Innocent Kayumba, jailed for stealing

Rwanda ex-prison director, Innocent Kayumba, jailed for stealing

Rwanda ex-prison director, Innocent Kayumba, jailed for stealing

A court in Rwanda has sentenced to five years in prison a former director of Kigali’s main prison for stealing money from a British inmate.

Innocent Kayumba, who was sentenced on Friday evening alongside his former deputy Eric Ntakirutimana, has appealed against the judgement, a court document shows.

The court acquitted an IT specialist inmate who used his skills to hack the victim’s Visa card after telling the court that he was forced by the prison director to do so.

He said he was asked to “decode” the card kept by the prison authorities after they realised that the bank account linked to it had a large sum of money.

A British-Egyptian inmate had told the court that more than £7,000 ($9,300) was taken away from his account using his card last year without his knowledge.

The court ruled that Mr Kayumba and his deputy conspired to the theft while the IT specialist was coerced to work for them, hence found not guilty.

Mr Kayumba, a senior military officer, was transferred to the prison services in 2014, heading a prison in western Rwanda before moving to the capital’s main prison.

He was arrested early this year.

Editorial Chief, Nigerian Bureau

Kings UBA is a Nigerian journalist and writer. I have reported for major local and international news organisations. I write satire. In 2017, I started contributing stories primarily to Discover Africa News Network. I can be reached on editorkingsuba@gmail.com. I currently manage Discover Africa News social media handles