Rwanda: Serial killer pleads guilty at trial

A Rwandan man pleaded guilty Thursday to the murder of fourteen people, most of them prostitutes, whose bodies were found in a hole dug in his kitchen.

Denis Kazungu, 34, is charged with ten crimes, including murder, rape, falsification of documents, identity theft and desecration of corpses.

Inspired by serial killer movies

At a court hearing in Kigali, he said "yes" when asked if the charges against him were accurate. "The ones I killed had passed AIDS on to me," he said. He was arrested earlier this month after police discovered twelve bodies, most of them women, in a hole dug in the kitchen of the house he rented on the outskirts of Kigali, where he lived alone.

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In his statement, Mr. Kazungu admitted that although twelve bodies were found in the hole, he actually killed fourteen people and dissolved (the bodies) of two of his victims," a prosecutor told the court. "After meeting his victims in bars, he would take them home and attack them, tie them up, undress them and seize their property," the prosecutor added. "He would then force them to give him the passwords for their phones and withdraw money. Then he would kill them and throw them into the hole,'" he added.

The magistrate said victims were able to escape and provide information to the police. Denis Kazungu was arrested in July on suspicion of robbery and rape, among others, but was released on bail for lack of evidence, according to police. After his arrest in early September, a police source told AFP that he confessed to learning how to kill his victims, mostly prostitutes, by watching films about serial killers. The press said he had held various jobs, including that of an English teacher.