{"id":60581,"date":"2023-12-13T16:00:14","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T16:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni"},"modified":"2023-12-13T16:31:15","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T16:31:15","slug":"fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni","title":{"rendered":"FA dismisses assault claims against referee Umutoni"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>AS Kigali defender Jean Bosco Akayezu will not face charges amid alleged assault claims against referee Aline Umutoni, Rwanda FA has said.<\/p>\n<p>Akayezu has been at the centre of controversy since a photo of him apparently touching Umutoni\u2019s chest went viral as he tried to convince the referee not to show him a second yellow card for a bookable offense over winger Arsene Tuyisenge in the 76th minute of the match during which his side beat Rayon Sports 2-1 at Kigali Pele Stadium on Saturday, December 9.<\/p>\n<p>The photo sparked divided opinions in the public with some describing it as an attempt to assault the referee while others suggested that the player was involved in an \u2018accidental physical contact\u2019 with her in an apparent attempt to avoid being sent off.<\/p>\n<p>From her observation, feminist Sylvie Nsanga claimed that the player assaulted Umutoni before calling on Rwanda Investigation Bureau to pick interest in the incident.<\/p>\n<p>Nsanga suggested that a gender mainstreaming strategy and involving human rights and women&#8217;s rights organisations should be prioritized to ensure safety and protection of women in sports.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have to put strong mechanisms to detect Sexual harassment and prevent it,\u201d she posted on her X account.<\/p>\n<p>However, Akayezu strongly dismissed alleged assault claims as opposed to allegations from the public.<\/p>\n<p>The defender told Times Sport that, \u201cI never meant to disrespect or insult the referee during the incident. My only intention was to plead for forgiveness and avoid a red card.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI deeply regret what happened, but it was never my intention (sexual assault). I respect the game and the match officials,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>FA reacts<\/p>\n<p>While the photo made rounds and sparked divided opinions, local football governing body (FERWAFA) investigated the matter based on the referee\u2019s report after the match before contacting her for further verification.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe looked into the referee&#8217;s report and she never mentioned that she was subject to any form of assault. I also spoke to the her for further clarification and she said that the player didn&#8217;t touch her,\u201d FERWAFA spokesperson Jules Karangwa told Times Sport.<\/p>\n<p>Karangwa said that the FA will not any further action against Akayezu other than maintaining his one-match suspension after he was sent off for a second bookable offense during AS Kigali\u2019s match against Rayon Sports.<\/p>\n<p>The suspension, as a result, saw him miss club\u2019s goalless draw against Muhazi United at Ngoma Stadium on Tuesday, December 12.<\/p>\n<p>He will return to action during club&#8217;s next league match that will open the second round of the Primus National League which will resume in January 2024.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\">Rwanda<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Rwanda. AS Kigali defender Jean Bosco Akayezu will not face charges amid alleged assault claims against referee Aline Umutoni, Rwanda FA has said. Akayezu has been at the centre of controversy since a photo of him apparently touching Umutoni\u2019s chest went viral as he tried to convince the referee not to show him [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":60579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,18],"tags":[760,763,4539,3179,4540,2676,758],"class_list":["post-60581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-rwanda","tag-aline-umutoni","tag-as-kigali","tag-jean-bosco-akayezu","tag-rayon-sports","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>FA dismisses assault claims against referee Umutoni - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"AS Kigali defender Jean Bosco Akayezu will not face charges amid alleged assault claims against referee Aline Umutoni, R ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FA dismisses assault claims against referee Umutoni\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"AS Kigali defender Jean Bosco Akayezu will not face charges amid alleged assault claims against referee Aline Umutoni, R ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-13T16:00:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-13T16:31:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/12\/sm_1702472385.161336.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"607\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"FA dismisses assault claims against referee Umutoni\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-13T16:00:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-13T16:31:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni\"},\"wordCount\":452,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/12\/sm_1702472385.161336.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Rwanda\",\"Aline Umutoni\",\"AS Kigali\",\"Jean Bosco Akayezu\",\"Rayon Sports\",\"Rwanda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni\",\"name\":\"FA dismisses assault claims against referee Umutoni - Rwanda\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/12\/sm_1702472385.161336.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-13T16:00:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-13T16:31:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"AS Kigali defender Jean Bosco Akayezu will not face charges amid alleged assault claims against referee Aline Umutoni, R ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/12\/sm_1702472385.161336.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/12\/sm_1702472385.161336.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":607,\"caption\":\"FA dismisses assault claims against referee Umutoni\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"FA dismisses assault claims against referee Umutoni\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/\",\"name\":\"Rwanda\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"FA dismisses assault claims against referee Umutoni - Rwanda","description":"AS Kigali defender Jean Bosco Akayezu will not face charges amid alleged assault claims against referee Aline Umutoni, R ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"FA dismisses assault claims against referee Umutoni","og_description":"AS Kigali defender Jean Bosco Akayezu will not face charges amid alleged assault claims against referee Aline Umutoni, R ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni","og_site_name":"Rwanda","article_published_time":"2023-12-13T16:00:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-12-13T16:31:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":607,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/12\/sm_1702472385.161336.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"FA dismisses assault claims against referee Umutoni","datePublished":"2023-12-13T16:00:14+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-13T16:31:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni"},"wordCount":452,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/12\/sm_1702472385.161336.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Rwanda","Aline Umutoni","AS Kigali","Jean Bosco Akayezu","Rayon Sports","Rwanda"],"articleSection":["all news","Sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni","name":"FA dismisses assault claims against referee Umutoni - Rwanda","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/12\/sm_1702472385.161336.jpg","datePublished":"2023-12-13T16:00:14+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-13T16:31:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"AS Kigali defender Jean Bosco Akayezu will not face charges amid alleged assault claims against referee Aline Umutoni, R ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/12\/sm_1702472385.161336.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2023\/12\/sm_1702472385.161336.jpg","width":1000,"height":607,"caption":"FA dismisses assault claims against referee Umutoni"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/fa-dismisses-assault-claims-against-referee-umutoni#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"FA dismisses assault claims against referee Umutoni"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/","name":"Rwanda","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}