Ethiopians are outraged by the vicious rape and killing of a seven-year-old child, and many believe the perpetrator was given a sentence that was too light.
In August of last year, Heaven Awot was killed, mutilated, and sexually abused by Getnet Baye, the landlord of her mother, in the Amhara region’s northwest city of Bahir Dar.
Getnet was given a 25-year prison sentence last week; he is appealing the decision, and the case has been postponed until October.
Abekyelesh Adeba, the girl’s mother said that she feels “lifeless” after losing her kid.
An online petition calling for a reconsideration of the sentence “to reflect the gravity of the crime” and support for the bereaved mother has received more than 200,000 signatures to date.
The Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA), one of the biggest organizations in the nation dedicated to promoting women’s rights, said in a statement that they thought the punishment was “extremely mild” and that “the murder alone should have been enough to sentence him to life imprisonment or to death… It is more abhorrent and disgusting when such a terrible crime is done to youngsters.”
Ergogie Tesfaye, the minister for women and social affairs, wrote on her Facebook page that the crimes against Heaven were “inhumane” and that her office would take the case further with relevant parties.
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