The Rwanda National Police in the Southern Province has arrested a 32-year-old man suspected of killing his 11-year-old son.
The suspect was apprehended in Rwesero cell, Busasamana sector, Nyanza district.
Since May 5, 2025, Hanika Catholic Primary School, located in Busasamana sector, had been circulating a missing child notice on social media. The child, Gisubizo Goopter, lived in Mugandamure A village, Kavumu cell, also in Busasamana sector, Nyanza district.
The boy was 11 years old and a third-grade student in primary school.
The school reported he went missing after class in the evening. He was last seen wearing his school uniform and a blue school bag.
Oswald Munyaneza, the headmaster of G.S Hanika, said the notice was shared after the child failed to return to school for several days. His mother and grandmother visited the school to inquire about him.
They later reported the case to the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB), which directed them to the CHUB hospital mortuary in Huye, where they discovered the boy’s lifeless body.
Vianney Nkubana, the Executive Secretary of Kinazi sector, confirmed that the body was found in a forest located in Kinazi village, Gatovu cell, Kinazi sector — a border area between Nyanza and Huye districts.
Investigations were launched, and the child’s father was taken into custody.
Southern Province Police Spokesperson SP Emmanuel HABIYAREMYE said the 32-year-old father was arrested in Murambi village, Rwesero cell, Busasamana sector, Nyanza district, on suspicion of murdering his son, Gisubizo.
The police have not released many details, but a journalist from Flash Radio and TV who visited the suspect’s barbershop reported that his colleagues suspected him after the child — who did not live with him — had gone to visit and get a haircut. It’s believed the father took the boy to Huye, where he was killed.
Eyewitnesses said the body had been decapitated and partially burned.
Preliminary findings suggest that the motive may be linked to the boy’s mother, who would sometimes ask for food assistance using the child, and that the boy also used to visit his father’s barbershop in Nyanza town.
The father, now in custody, lived with another woman — the boy’s stepmother — and not with the child.
