Shagere town's high court sentenced three individuals to prison terms for kidnapping a girl and extorting 1.2 million birr from her father. Two received 18 years of rigorous imprisonment plus fines, while the third got 17 years. The ruling followed a detailed trial on kidnapping and arms charges.
Shagere town's high court second criminal bench convicted Bre Bay, Fromsa Bay, and Yadete Tfera under the criminal code and arms control law for kidnapping a girl named Tadagi. The court detailed charges including articles 32/1, 670/1, and arms law article 22/3.
On the first day of Qen 2018 EC at 7 PM, the suspects, armed with a Kalashnikov and disguised as security forces, abducted the girl from the Gelan area in Shagere town. They held her for three days in a house in Chaka, Awasa woreda, demanding 5 million birr from her father via phone before receiving 1.2 million birr after threats of harm.
The suspects were arrested while buying clothes with the victim in Sheqeta market after police traced tips. Some ransom money, 785,900 birr, was found buried with the gun on farmland owned by the first two suspects' father.
Despite denying the kidnapping, they admitted receiving the money. The court reduced sentences considering right of appeal, evidence tampering denial failure, and sibling mercy, sentencing the first two to 18 years rigorous imprisonment and 5,000 birr fines, the third to 17 years and 3,000 birr given his 17-year-old age.
