A Rwandan man pleaded guilty Thursday to murdering fourteen people, most of them prostitutes, whose bodies were found in a hole in his kitchen.
34-year-old Denis Kazungu is accused of ten crimes, including murder, rape, document forgery, identity theft and desecration of corpses.
During a hearing in a Kigali court, he replied “yes” when the judge asked him whether the allegations against him were true.
“Those I killed gave me AIDS,” he said. He was arrested earlier this month after police discovered 12 bodies, most of them women, in a hole in the kitchen of the house he rented in a Kigali suburb where he lived alone.
“In his testimony, Mr Kazungu admitted that although twelve bodies were found in the hole, he had 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 took them home and assaulted them, tying them up, undressing them and taking their property,” the prosecutor added.
“He then forced them to give him the passwords to their phones and withdrew money. Then he would kill them and throw them in the hole,” he added.
The judge said the victims could escape and give clues to police.
According to police, Denis Kazungu was arrested in July on suspicion of theft and rape, among other things, but was released on bail due to lack of evidence.
After his arrest in early September, a police source told AFP that he admitted that he had learned to kill his victims, most of them prostitutes, by watching films about serial killers.
It was reported in the press that he held various jobs, including that of an English teacher.