Hands trembling, Aberash fired three warning shots in the air. He kept advancing. Aberash lowered the gun, shot and killed him. This broke every taboo. She was arrested for murder, brought to trial and created a major rift between her parents and the abductor's family.
Many people marry through abduction.
Have your say Mail the editor Even though abduction is illegal in Ethiopia, it has become so common that police turn a blind eye. The matter is almost always left to the community elders to resolve. In Aberash's case, they sent her into exile in an orphanage in Addis Ababa and ordered her family to pay compensation for the abductor's death. To raise the blood money Aberash's family had to sell their cattle and borrow from relatives. Aberash's case, however, has been taken up by the Ethiopian Women's Lawyers Association.