Bahir Dar, Tikemet 27, 2019 E.C (Amhara Region Supreme Court)
The North Shewa Zone Attorney's Office charged the defendant, Yitbarek Abebe, with aggravated homicide under Article 539(1) (a) of the 2004 Criminal Code of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
According to the charge, on Tikemet 4, 2018 E.C, at approximately 1:00 a.m., in Block 8, Kebele 02, Mehal Meda Town Administration, the defendant deliberately murdered his wife, the late Meseret Abebe, inside their residence.
The defendant allegedly harbored resentment against his wife, accusing her of taking his money. He locked the door from inside and brutally attacked her with a meat-cutting axe made of iron, striking her mouth, teeth, nose, and head and inflicting fatal injuries. The prosecution argued that the defendant had committed aggravated homicide.
The defendant denied the charge and contested the allegations, claiming that he had not committed the crime. In response, the North Shewa Zone Attorney's Office presented eyewitness testimony and the defendant's confessional statements made before the Woreda Court and the police as evidence to establish his guilt.
After examining the charge and the evidence presented, the North Shewa Zone High Court ruled that the defendant had a case to answer under the relevant provisions of the Criminal Code.
The defendant subsequently presented one defense witness and submitted his defense, allowing the court to hear the testimony of the witness.
After thoroughly examining the charge and the evidence presented by both parties, the court found the defendant guilty of aggravated homicide in violation of Article 539(1)(a) of the Criminal Code.
In determining the sentence, the North Shewa Zone High Court initially placed the offense at Level 2, Penalty Scale 44, in accordance with the Amended Sentencing Guideline No. 3/2017, taking into consideration the nature and manner in which the crime was committed.
The defendant was found to have established five different mitigating circumstances supported by evidence. Consequently, the applicable penalty was reduced from Scale 44 to Scale 39.
However, the court found that the circumstances surrounding the crime were exceptionally grave. The defendant had committed the murder at approximately 1:00 a.m. in the house he shared with his wife, after locking the door and repeatedly striking her with a meat-cutting axe. The court considered the manner of the attack to be extremely cruel, reprehensible, and dangerous.
The court reasoned that imposing a sentence within the penalty scale applicable to the defendant would fail to achieve the objectives and purposes of criminal punishment. Accordingly, invoking Article 120 of Sentencing Guideline No. 3/2017, which allows the court to depart from the prescribed sentencing scale in exceptional circumstances, it exercised its discretionary authority to impose a sentence outside the guideline.
The court stated that the sentence was necessary to reform and rehabilitate the defendant, as well as to serve as a warning to others who might contemplate committing similar crimes.
Accordingly, at its hearing held on Tikemet 23, 2019 E.C, the North Shewa Zone High Court, by unanimous decision, sentenced the defendant to life imprisonment and ordered the suspension of his civil rights for five years in accordance with Articles 123 and 124 of the Criminal Code.
