On April 4th, 2016, theHonorable Judge Paul Delucchi of the Alameda County Superior Court found TewadrosGebreselassie guilty of three (3) counts of “Voluntary Manslaughter” after headmitted that he assisted hisolder brother, Asmerom Gebresselassie, murder three (3) members of the Meharifamily on Thanksgiving day of 2006 (November 23rd, 2006).
Mr. Tewaderos Gebreselassie agreedto enter these pleas after his convictions were reversed by the Court ofAppeals and he was returned to court for a new trial. He waived any rightto appeal these convictions in the future.
Mr.Tewedros served 10 years in prison on 3 counts of “Voluntary Manslaughter”. Heserved 6 years for the 1st count and 2 years (each) for the 2ndand 3rd counts.
Also theMehari’s family presented three impact statement and one of the older brotherYosef Mehari read this to the court quote “I believe 2 things about people: There are those who live to help others. Helping others fills them with pride. And then there are those like your wholefamily. You all joined together hand tohand to do harm—to kill my family. Butit did not work for your family.
The truthis the truth always. It may come late,but it will come out one day. And wecannot stop to bring the truth until the end of my life.
By youonly getting 10 years will not change the truth. Even for the main evil idea, Tesfu and Senaitare walking outside and you will soon be walking with them. But that does not change the truth of whatyou did. You helped them with this plan. You helped your family think you would getaway with these killings. You know allof your family was involved in these crimes. That is why you all defend each other over these 9 years.
Ifthings happened the way you claim, why did you not call 911 when you got backto your family’s dinner? Why did thepolice SWAT team have to get you and your family to come outside thatnight? There were 11 people there inthat apartment. I know what they toldthe police that day. Why didn’t you tellany of your family about your claim my brothers pulled guns and tried to killAsmerom? Why did those people not tellthe police how Isaac really got to that apartment after his mother was shot?
Do youthink you are more important to Isaac than his mom?
Theappellate court having this decision is in no way valid. To say the same case is OK for Asmerom, butnot you is not honest.
I do notagree with the DA’s decision to let you plead to these charges for only 10years. But my family and I do not have achoice. This may be the end of the casein court, but not the end for us, the family.
Therewill be justice some day for my mom, Winta and Yonas because we know thetruth. We know what happened. We know your family planned these killings. We know you opened the door to let yourbother in to kill my family. You tookthis plea to be free, but you know you did this. You are not free. You will never be free. You will carry the deaths of my mom, Wintaand Yonas with you forever.”
Alsoanother the Mehari’s family member who witness the horrific crime readstatement
“Goodmorning Honorable Judge Delucchi,
My nameis Merhawi Tesfarmariam Mehari. I amhere to read this message to the killer of my beautiful family. My mother meant the world to me. My beautiful sister Winta, who was a mentorfor me, was one of the kindest sisters I could ask for, but the entireGebreselassie family killed her. Becauseof them, she cannot raise her handsome son Isaac Winta Abraham, the son of yourbrother Tewodros. How evil you and yourentire family are to show no remorse. Ithank God every minute that Winta left me with one beautiful gift—her only son“Isaac Winta Abraham.” You killed mybrother Yonas who was only 17 years old and a senior in high school. He was the light of our house. Did you know on Thanksgiving Day, Yonas waswriting his personal statement so he could attend UC Berkeley? You and your family took that bright futureaway from him. The hardest part to me that I still cannot accept is the murderof my younger brother. He fell on me whenyour evil brother shot him.
I knowit has been more than 9 years since you and your family murdered myfamily. Every second, every minute,every hour since that day I suffer the pain. I will have this pain for the rest of my life. Even though the appellate court decided togive you a new trial, it was wrong because I know you are the mastermind ofthis crime. You came all the way fromEritrea to commit this horrific crime.
There isa saying in Amharic and I will try my best to translate it into English: Since your mother’s womb is evil and I seeall of the children she have from her womb are all evil.
I justwant to ask you one question. When youcame to our house on Thanksgiving Day to commit these horrific crimes with yourfamily, how would you eat the food and drink the coffee my mother made? How did you feel when you swallowed the foodand drink my mother gave you? I hope thefood you ate and the coffee you drank will always choke you.
It isobvious that the Gebreselassie family has never had any family love and I amsure will never have a love toward their own family. If you loved your mother or your brotherAbraham, you would not kill my mother, my sister and my brother. What reason did your family have to kill themand try to kill the rest of us? Don’tyou know that Isaac is the son of your own brother Abraham? Did you think about Isaac at all beforekilling his mother? What will Isaac saywhen he grows up knowing the Gebreselassie family left him without his motherand his father? Since Winta was raisingIsaac alone after Abraham died, she was both a mother and father to him.
I haveone question to ask you and your remorseless family. What would you answer to Isaac if he askedyou why you killed his mother, his grandmother and his uncle? I don’t expect a positive answer to thissince you and your family has no remorse for what you have done. Yes, I will never, ever forgive you or yourfamily for what you have done.
Tewodros,you know you are the main mastermind of this horrific crime. You are the one who opened the door andallowed your evil brother Asmerom into our home so he could kill everyone. He is where he deserves to be--locked up injail forever.
Tewodros,do you know you took away my happiness and my world when you allowed Asmerom tocome into our home to kill my mother—my world. Do you know how much I love my mother? Did you know how much I owe my mother to pay her back for all she didfor me? After my college graduation, Iwas planning to buy her a house so she can rest since she suffered the loss ofher husband, my father to illness. Shewas raising 8 children by herself. Butyou Tewodros, the mastermind of these murders, took all of my plans that I havefor her. I always thank God for what hehas done for me and my family. My motherhad happiness until you committed these horrible crimes.
Do youknow that you have killed my beautiful sister? Did you know she was my mentor for my education, my advisor during my upand down time? She was my everything. Did you know she was getting her BS degreewhen you allowed your brother to kill her? But God has a plan and her only son Isaac to receive her posthumouslyawarded BS degree from CSUEB.
I alwaysthank God to have Isaac alive after you kidnapped him. You said you took him because Yehferom and Ihad guns and were going to kill Asmerom. I wish I had a gun that day, but I did not. You know Yehferom and I did not have gunsthat day. I wish I could have taken thegun Asmerom brought to kill my family.
I thankGod because God’s punishment is not reversible like the appellate court. What they did was not right to me, my familyand our entire community. How would theappellate court reverse your conviction, but not Asmerom’s based on the same case? I will never accept their decision. The jurors who sat and listened and watchedthe whole case for months saw the plan you and your family made. They have seen your act and attitude and yourmastermind plan. The appellate court didnot see you and who you really are—to see what an evil mastermind you reallyare.
I justwant to thank the jurors and the DA, especially John Jay and Joni Leventis fortheir amazing job for the truth.
Yes, youTewodros and your entire family are killers, but are still out on the streetsand even in this courtroom. You will beout on the streets soon, but don’t ever feel like a free person because thealmighty God punishes very well.
I wantto give thanks to the entire Eritrean and Ethiopian community. I want to especially thank my family for thesupport we give each other every single day, even though it is very hard, butGod is helping us to heal and to all my friends.
But toyou and your entire family, I don’t have a heart to forgive you at anymoment. And may God punish you day byday so you can feel the pain we feel since you and your family killed bymother, sister and brother.
The Mehari family was present in thecourt with members from the Eritrean community who remain steadfast in theirsupport of the victims’ family members in the aftermath of these horrifickillings.
It is tobe recalled that Asmerom Gebresselassie, older brother of TewedrosGebresselassie, is currently serving “life in prison” without any possibilityof parole for murdering Regbe Bahrenegasi, Winta Mehari and Yonas Mehari.
Received on Tue Apr 05 2016 - 13:37:37 EDT