"I have lost my Heaven," Mother of raped and killed seven year old girl

 

The brutal rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl has sparked outrage in Ethiopia, with many saying the sentence given to her attacker is too lenient.

 

Heaven Awot was sexually assaulted, mutilated and killed by her mother’s landlord Getnet Baye last August in the north-western city of Bahir Dar in Amhara region.

 

Getnet was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The case attracted widespread attention after he recently launched an appeal, and the case is now adjourned until October.

 

The mother of the girl, Abekyelesh Adeba, tells the BBC that losing her child has left her feeling "lifeless".

 

More than 200,000 people have so far signed an online petition demanding a review of the sentencing "to reflect the gravity of the crime" and to offer support for the grieving mother.

 

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."

 

Senior government representatives have also voiced their disapproval. Minister of Women and Social Affairs Ergogie Tesfaye, for example, said on her Facebook page that the crimes against Heaven were "inhumane" and that her office would take the matter up with relevant parties.

 

The vicious incident has sparked contentious debates on Ethiopia's vulnerable women and young girls' safety.

 

Human Rights Watch stated in a May report that sexual violence tied to conflicts "has reached alarming levels in Ethiopia".

 

Some believe that one of the reasons it is so common is because of the absence of accountability for those who commit it.

 

In Tigray, the northernmost area of the country, a catastrophic two-year battle claimed thousands of lives, including the rape of women and young girls.

Heaven witnessed the dissolution of her family as a result of the war before she was raped and slain.

 

The strife peaked when her father, an ethnic Tigrayan, was imprisoned for months. He was never put on trial.

After being freed, he departed Amhara for Tigray, believing that there was still animosity and mistrust toward him there.

 

Heaven’s mother, Ms Abekyelesh, a nurse, was left to raise her and her younger sister alone.

Being on friendly terms with their landlord who lived with his family within the same compound, Ms Abekyelesh told the BBC that she never felt any threat to her children.

She was related to the landlord’s wife which made her feel even more at ease.

When Heaven was attacked, Ms Abekyelesh was at work and the girl's aunt was babysitting her.

 

According to her aunt, Heaven told her she was going to the restroom but never showed back. The aunt says she went to look for the girl but could not find her, which makes her wonder why she was taking so long. She feels as though Getnet has taken her.

Later on that day, Heaven's disfigured body—which was obviously strangled—was discovered in front of her house. According to her mother, who spoke to the BBC, she thinks the perpetrator left the body there.

"If our children can't be safe in our homes, where else can we go?," she replies. "Should we give up our jobs and dedicate our entire time to them? How are we going to feed them?"

Ms. Abekyelesh endured more hardships in the months that followed as she mourned her daughter's murder.

 

She had to go into hiding, fearing for her own and her other daughter’s safety, after the attacker - Getnet - escaped from custody.

He fled from the police station in Bahir Dar where he was being detained last August, after local Amhara militias battling the army broke into that facility to free their fellow fighters who were held there.

 

With a revolver in hand, Getnet, who was now at large, approached Heaven's mother. It was over a month before he was arrested again.

She claims she had to plead with the security personnel to re-arrest him since she didn't think they would be willing to hold him. Getnet was threatening her the entire time.

Ms. Abekyelesh felt uneasy about it, and in the year that followed, she has changed employment and residences multiple times.

Ms. Abekyelesh believes she was let down by the legal system. She doesn't think Getnet's 25-year sentence was sufficient.

However, she is more worried that he would succeed in his appeal and be released early.

 

"I have lost my Heaven... I am lifeless," she tells the BBC.

Yet as a health worker, she says she knows of countless more women and young girls who have been sexually assaulted.

"I know there are so many Heavens."