Elderly woman begged to be spared, Montreal war crimes trial told

An elderly woman pleaded with Desire Munyaneza during Rwanda's 1994 genocide not to rape her but he responded by telling her "even old women have it," a witness testified at Canada's first war crimes trial on Monday.

The witness, known only as C16 to protect her identity, wrapped up her fifth and final day of testimony by describing how several Rwandan Tutsis sought refuge from Hutu extremists at the local government office.

When asked by defence lawyer Richard Perras if she saw women being raped, the witness said she only saw women being taken away to be raped.

Superior Court Justice Andre Denis then asked, "what makes you believe they were raped?"

"One girl was taken away and when she came back, she was bleeding," the witness said through an interpreter.

"There was even an old woman that Desire took," she said. "She was pleading with him, saying she was an old woman and he said, `Even old women have it'."

Earlier, the witness said she saw Munyaneza loading refugees into buses to take them to a fenced-in compound.

But Perras claimed that this was the first time she has mentioned such a detail to anyone.

The woman is one of 13 witnesses brought from the Central African country to testify against Munyaneza, who was arrested at his Etobicoke, Ont., home in 2005.

So far, there has been no explanation as to why the 40-year-old father of two is being tried in Montreal, since he has opted for an English trial.

He is the first person to be tried under Canada's Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, and faces seven counts: two of genocide, two of crimes against humanity and three of war crimes.

He allegedly murdered, raped and pillaged during the genocide in which more than 500,000 members of the country's Tutsi ethnic group were systematically slaughtered by Hutus.