Rwanda National Police

Police in Nyarugenge District has from Wednesday August 15, been holding one Leopold Bimenyimana, 42, for defrauding one woman of a large sum of money claiming he was a traditional healer.

It is alleged Bimenyimana posing as a healer in the district defrauded Charlotte Uwamahoro 32, and obtained Frw 7,770,000 through means of extortion.

It is alleged the suspect, through an accomplice convinced and threatened the victim that her situation would worsen if she did not seek the services of the traditional medicine man. The lady has been suffering an undisclosed illness.

According to Senior Superintend of Police (SSP) Hitayezu, Spokesperson of Central Region Police, the suspect claimed to be a spiritual healer and promised to heal the victim through ‘supernatural’ means, but only after she paid the monies.

Through their operation, charlatans like Bimenyimana use all sorts of tricks to gain the confidence of their victims by assuring them of their ability to help them with problems such as poor health, failure in business or relationships, and so on.

Charlotte told investigators she believed she was being cured of an illness when she was in touch with Bimenyimana. “Through a middleman Bimenyimana received the money and gave the victim some medicines, which only worsened her health situation! The drugs actually impaired her rational judgment at the moment,” SSP Hitayezu said.

He further disclosed that it was after Charlotte realized that Bimenyimana had made empty promises that she decided to inform the authorities.

SSP Hitayezu said the conmen through a cynical, dishonest means or claims approach people suffering from all kinds of ill health and take advantage of their vulnerabilities. “It is high time people came out of this darkness of superstitions; sick people should visit trained medical personnel for proper diagnosis of their ailments,” he added.

Article 318 of the penal code partly states that any person that “intentionally obtains a property belonging to another person fraudulently or by using false names or qualities, to give rise to hope or fear of harm, and obtains a part or whole of a fortune shall be liable to a term of imprisonment of three (3) years to five (5) years, and a fine of between three million to five million Rwandan francs.”