Psychiatric report rejects defense claim that Yosef Ben David was not responsible for his actions on night of Muhammed Abu Khdeir’s murder
The State Prosecutor on Monday presented a psychiatric evaluation that finds an Israeli man convicted in the grisly 2014 abduction and murder of a Palestinian teen is fit for trial.
According to Channel 2, the state’s evaluation disputes the insanity plea of 31-year-old Jerusalem resident Yosef Ben David.
Muhammed Abu Khdeir, 16, was kidnapped and killed on July 1, 2014, two days after it emerged that three Israeli teens who had been abducted several weeks earlier in the West Bank were killed by their Palestinian kidnappers shortly after they were grabbed.
Ben David was convicted of carrying out the attack, but was not sentenced while the court considered his claim that he suffers from mental illness and was not responsible for his actions at the time.
On February 4, the other two killers — both minors — were sentenced to life in prison and 21 years, respectively. The first, aged 17, was convicted of actively helping in Abu Khdeir’s kidnap-murder. He was sentenced to life for helping to pour gasoline on the teen before he was set alight, received a separate three-year sentence and ordered to pay NIS 35,000 in reparations.
The second killer, aged 16, was found guilty of helping the 17-year-old and Ben David to kill the boy, and received a 21-year sentence and was ordered to pay NIS 30,000 in reparations to the Abu Khdeir family.
The sentences, handed down by the Jerusalem District Court, are rare for minors. Israeli law forbids identifying minors convicted of crimes.
Abu Khdeir’s family reacted with dismay to the sentences, saying both should have received life terms.
The court has ruled that Ben David led the attack on Abu Khdeir, which shocked the country and led to several days of Palestinian riots.
The court’s actions are being closely watched at a time of renewed Israeli-Palestinian tensions. A deadly wave of Palestinian stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks targeting Israelis began last October.
Right-wing Jewish extremist Amiram Ben-Uliel was charged earlier this month with murder for a West Bank firebomb attack, in which a Palestinian toddler and his parents were killed. The sole surviving member of the family, 5-year-old Ahmed Dawabsha, remains hospitalized in Israel as he slowly recovers from severe burns.
As reported by The Times of Israel