Rwanda National Police

Rwanda National Police (RNP) has warned parents against severe punishments they subject to children in the name of disciplining them.

The call follows an incident on January 28, in Muhanga District where a woman in Kigaga Village, Makera Cell in Cyeza Sector burned her 11-year-old daughter with a heated machete, accusing her of stealing.

“This was an inhuman act of punishment… burning a child with a machete coupled with severe beating,” Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Emmanuel Kayigi, the Police spokesperson for the Southern region, said.

The child is currently admitted at Kabgayi hospital nursing the wounds on legs and buttocks while the mother is detained at Nyamabuye Police Station.

“The incident was reported by neighbors, who heard the young girl groaning. These are actions of battery or causing bodily injuries against a child or a person unable to defend themselves, and punishable under article 152 of the penal code,” CIP Kayigi said.

The article states that “any person who intentionally inflicts battery or bodily injuries on a child or a person who is unable to defend him/herself due to physical or mental state or old age, shall be liable to a term of imprisonment of one to three years and a fine of Rwf100, 000 to Rwf500, 000.”

“No one should keep quiet about such criminal behaviours. As a parent, a neighbor and the general public, we need to jointly protect and promote the rights of children, and that include reporting any child-right violations,” he said.