{"id":10895,"date":"2016-08-16T19:41:24","date_gmt":"2016-08-16T19:41:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=10895"},"modified":"2016-08-16T19:41:24","modified_gmt":"2016-08-16T19:41:24","slug":"evil-husband-who-ordered-wife-murdered-was-horrified-when-she-appeared-on-the-day-of-her-funeral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=10895","title":{"rendered":"Evil Husband who ordered wife murdered was horrified when she appeared on the day of her funeral"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><code><script src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\" async=\"\"><\/script><br \/>\n <!-- www.deltanewsroom.com --><br \/>\n <ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\/\/ <![CDATA[\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/code><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Husband-and-wife.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-10896\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-10896\" src=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Husband-and-wife-300x194.jpg\" alt=\"Husband and wife\" width=\"300\" height=\"194\" srcset=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Husband-and-wife-300x194.jpg 300w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Husband-and-wife-768x496.jpg 768w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Husband-and-wife.jpg 770w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Noela Rukundo sat in a car\u00a0outside her home, watching as the last few mourners filed out. They were leaving a funeral \u2014 her funeral.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, she spotted the man she\u2019d been waiting\u00a0for. She stepped out of her car, and her husband put his hands on his head in horror.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs it my eyes?\u201d she recalled him saying. \u201cIs it a ghost?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSurprise! I\u2019m still alive!\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n<p>Far from being elated, the man looked terrified. Five days ago, he had ordered a team of hit men to kill\u00a0Rukundo, his partner of 10 years. And they\u00a0did \u2014 well, they told him they did. They even got him to pay an extra few thousand dollars for carrying out the crime.<\/p>\n<p>Now here was his wife, standing before him. In an interview with the\u00a0BBC\u00a0Thursday, Rukundo recalled how he\u00a0touched her shoulder\u00a0to\u00a0find it unnervingly solid. He jumped. Then he started screaming.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sorry for everything,\u201d he wailed.<\/p>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\" async=\"\"><\/script><br \/>\n <!-- www.deltanewsroom.com --><br \/>\n <ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\/\/ <![CDATA[\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/p>\n<p>But\u00a0it was far too late for apologies; Rukundo called the police. The husband, Balenga Kalala, ultimately pleaded guilty\u00a0and was sentenced to nine years in prison for incitement to murder, according to the\u00a0Australian Broadcasting Corporation\u00a0(the ABC).<\/p>\n<p>The happy ending \u2014 or, as happy as can be expected to a saga\u00a0in which a man tries to have his wife killed\u00a0\u2014 was made possible by three unusually principled hit men, a helpful pastor and one incredibly\u00a0gutsy woman: Rukundo herself.<\/p>\n<p>Here is how she pulled it off.<\/p>\n<p>Rukundo\u2019s ordeal began almost exactly a year ago, when she flew from her home in Melbourne with her husband, Kalala, to attend a funeral in her native Burundi. Her stepmother had died\u00a0and the service left her saddened and stressed. She\u00a0retreated\u00a0to her hotel room in Bujumbura, the capital,\u00a0early in the evening; despondent\u00a0after the events of the day, she lay down in bed. Then her husband called.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe told me to go outside for fresh air,\u201d she told the\u00a0BBC.<\/p>\n<p>But the minute Rukundo\u00a0stepped out of her hotel, a man charged\u00a0forward, pointing a gun right at her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t scream,\u201d she recalled him saying. \u201cIf you start screaming, I will shoot you. They\u2019re going to catch me, but you? You will already be dead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rukundo, terrified, did as she was told. She was ushered into a car and blindfolded so she couldn\u2019t see where she was being taken. After 30 or 40 minutes, the car came to a stop, and\u00a0Rukundo was pushed into a building and tied to a chair.<\/p>\n<p>She could hear male voices, she told the ABC. One asked her, \u201cYou woman, what did you do for this man to pay us to kill you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><code><script src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\" async=\"\"><\/script><br \/>\n <!-- www.deltanewsroom.com --><br \/>\n <ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\/\/ <![CDATA[\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/code><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat are you talking about?\u201d Rukundo demanded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBalenga sent us to kill you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They were lying. She told them so. And they laughed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re a fool,\u201d they told her.<\/p>\n<p>There was the sound of a dial tone, and a male voice coming through a\u00a0speakerphone. It was her husband\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKill her,\u201d he\u00a0said.<\/p>\n<p>And Rukundo fainted.<\/p>\n<p>Rukundo had met her husband 11 years earlier, right after she arrived in Australia from Burundi, according to the\u00a0BBC. He was a recent refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and they had the same social worker at the resettlement agency that helped them get on their feet. Since Kalala already knew\u00a0English, their social worker often recruited him to translate for Rukundo, who spoke Swahili.<\/p>\n<p>They fell in love, moved in together in the Melbourne suburb of Kings Park, and had three children (Rukundo also had five kids from a previous relationship). She learned more about her husband\u2019s past \u2014 he had fled a rebel army that had ransacked his village, killing his wife and young son. She also learned more about his character.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Balenga Kalala paid $7000 for his partner to be kidnapped and murdered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI knew he was a violent man,\u201d Rukundo told the\u00a0BBC. \u201cBut I didn\u2019t believe he can kill me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But, it appeared, he could.<\/p>\n<p>Rukundo came to in the strange building somewhere near Bujumbura. The kidnappers were still there, she told the ABC.<\/p>\n<p>They weren\u2019t going to kill her, the men then explained \u2014 they didn\u2019t believe in killing women, and they knew her brother. But they would keep her husband\u2019s money and tell him that she was dead. After two days, they set her free on the side of a road, but not before giving\u00a0her\u00a0a mobile phone, recordings of their phone conversations with Kalala, and receipts for the $7,000 in Australian dollars they allegedly received in payment, according to\u00a0Australia\u2019s\u00a0The Age.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just want you to go back, to tell other stupid women like you what happened,\u201d Rukundo said she was told before\u00a0the gang members drove away.<\/p>\n<p>Shaken, but alive and doggedly determined, Rukundo began plotting her next move. She sought help from the Kenyan and Belgian embassies to return to Australia, according to The Age. Then she called the\u00a0pastor of her church in Melbourne, she told the BBC, and explained to\u00a0him what had happened. Without alerting Kalala, the pastor helped her get back\u00a0home to her neighborhood near Melbourne.<\/p>\n<p>Balenga Kalala paid $7000 for his partner to be kidnapped and murdered.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, her husband had told everyone she had died in a tragic accident and the entire community mourned her at her funeral at the family home. On the night of\u00a0Feb. 22, 2015, just as the widower Kalala waved goodbye to neighbors who had come to comfort him, Rukundo approached him, the very man whose voice she\u2019d heard over the phone five days earlier, ordering that she be killed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt like somebody who had risen again,\u201d she told the BBC.<\/p>\n<p>Though Kalala initially denied all involvement, Rukundo got him to confess to the crime during a phone conversation that was secretly recorded by police, according to The Age.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes Devil can come into someone, to do something, but after they do it they start thinking, \u2018Why I did that thing?\u2019 later,\u201d he said, as he begged her to forgive him.<\/p>\n<p>Kalala eventually pleaded guilty to the scheme.\u00a0He was sentenced to nine years in prison by a judge in Melbourne.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHad Ms Rukundo\u2019s kidnappers completed the job, eight children would have lost their mother,\u201d Chief Justice Marilyn Warren said, according to the ABC.\u00a0\u201cIt was premeditated and motivated by unfounded jealousy, anger and a desire to punish Ms. Rukundo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rukundo said\u00a0that Kalala tried to kill her because he thought she was going to leave him for another man \u2014 an accusation she denies.<\/p>\n<p>But her trials are not yet over. Rukundo told the ABC\u00a0she\u2019s gotten backlash from\u00a0Melbourne\u2019s Congolese\u00a0community for reporting Kalala to the police. Someone left threatening messages for her, and she returned home one day to find her back door broken. She now has eight children to raise alone, and has asked the Department of Human Services to help her find a new place to live.<\/p>\n<p>And lying in bed at night, Kalala\u2019s voice still comes to her: \u201cKill her, kill her,\u201d she told the BBC. \u201cEvery night, I see what was happening in those two days with the kidnappers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite all that, \u201cI will stand up like a strong woman,\u201d she said. \u201cMy situation, my past life? That is gone. I\u2019m starting a new life now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dear Readers, what is your take from this incident? Are there any lessons you have learned? Any new perspectives you have gained? We learn everyday from the experiences of others, because it plays a big part in helping us become better people. Please share your thoughts in the comment section<\/p>\n<p>BBC<\/p>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\" async=\"\"><\/script><br \/>\n <!-- www.deltanewsroom.com --><br \/>\n <ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\/\/ <![CDATA[\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/p>\n<p><code><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alternativeadvert.com\/show.php?z=30&amp;pl=9856&amp;ad_type=59&amp;rl=180\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/code><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Noela Rukundo sat in a car\u00a0outside her home, watching as the last few mourners filed out. They were leaving a funeral \u2014 her funeral. Finally, she spotted the man she\u2019d been waiting\u00a0for. She stepped out of her car, and her husband put his hands on his head in horror. \u201cIs it my eyes?\u201d she recalled [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":10896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[16],"tags":[2744,2745],"class_list":["post-10895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-strange-world","tag-balenga-kalala","tag-noela-rukundo"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Husband-and-wife.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-2PJ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10895"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10897,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10895\/revisions\/10897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}