A few months before security forces discovered that Denis Kazungu had murdered numerous women and buried them in his house, his neighbors had noticed various troubling signs that pointed to something evil about him.
Kazungu, 34, was from Gashikiri village in Kicukiro district’s Kanombe sector.
On Monday, September 5, officers from the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) discovered numerous remains in a trench excavated in his kitchen, sending chills through the city. Questions arose about how he did it all without being seen, the motivation behind the horrible deeds, whether he had collaborators, and so on.
Kazungu had no close neighbors. Those nearest to him resided around 100 meters away. The house was surrounded by a “imiyenzi” hedge, and Kazungu ignored guests save for the ladies who would check in with him during the night when he returned from the bar on multiple times.
The majority of these ladies were suspected of being sex workers. As a result, even when they were aware of the violence at the residence, the neighborhood was hesitant to act.
Irene Mukasine, one of Kazungu’s closest neighbors, was shocked about two months ago when a young woman ran straight into her house, nude. Her feet and hands appeared to be tied, but she had managed to get free, resulting in the bruises.
One of Kazungu’s closest neighbors, Irene Mukasine, speaking with The New Times,the source,. She claims that she and her neighbors saved three young women from Kazungu’s clutches.
She screamed at the top of her lungs for Mukasine to “hide her because she was going to be killed.”
“When I first saw her, I thought I was seeing a demon.” I was terrified. I dashed out the door to see what was chasing her. I noticed Kazungu approaching; he had followed her. He turned and headed towards the main road when he noticed us,” she says.
Unwilling local leader
Mukasine and other neighbors reported the event to “Mutwarasibo,” a local leader, but he showed no interest, claiming it was “just a simple argument between Kazungu and a sex worker.”
A similar incidence occurred not long after. Another woman who had stayed the night at Kazungu’s place was in hot water. She, like the first, broke free and went to the neighbors.
“He robbed her in the morning, she said, by holding a pen to her throat and demanding her mobile money pin.” Her face was damaged; he had clearly battered her. We reported it as well, but received the same response: Kazungu was simply bickering with his sex workers,” Mukasine says.
Kazungu’s apartment was in a quiet neighborhood with no near neighbors.
In an event that occurred around two weeks ago, the last person to escape Kazungu’s claws was also a young woman. She, unlike the other two, was unable to flee the house on her own. So she yelled as loudly as she could so that her neighbors could hear her.
“We ran to his house when we heard the screams.” We asked him to open the door for us. He entered the room humming a Swahili gospel hymn. I assume he was attempting to trick us into thinking nothing was wrong. “We begged him to open the door, but he refused,” Mukasine said
When they saw he was refusing to listen to them, they decided to gather stones and toss them over his roof. He realized they were serious about saving the young woman after this, so he let her go.
“She ran through the backdoor,” Mukasine explains.
The kitchen where RIB authorities discovered multiple corpses
They reported it to the police this time. The police, on the other hand, asked that the local authorities draft a statement outlining the risks that Kazungu posed. He was hesitant when the women approached their “Mutwarasibo” to do so.
“In fact, at some point, they told us to stop complaining about him,” she recalls.
“However, leaders should not speak to citizens in this manner; instead, they should listen to us.” They were rude to us, but we had a point to make,” she continued disappointedly.
