Main Jewish suspect in murder of Palestinian teen gets life plus 20 yrs in prison
Xinhua, May 4, 2016 Adjust font size:
The ringleader of extremist Jews who burned to death a Palestinian teenager in Jerusalem in 2014 was sentenced on Tuesday to a life sentence plus twenty years in prison.
Yosef Ban David, 30, was also required by the Jerusalem District Court to pay 150,000 shekels (about 40,000 U.S. dollars) to the family of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, the 16-year-old Palestinian who was burnt to death by Jewish extremists after being abducted from his home in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat in July 2014, according to protocols provided by the Israeli Court Authority spokesperson.
Other than Ben David who was convicted in Abu Khdeir's murder in April, two other defendants, aged 16 and 17, were implicated in the murder and they were both sentenced to 21 years in prison in late 2015.
Ben David had asked the court previously to suspend his conviction as he pled to insanity, but the court rejected the motion.
A group of three judges wrote in the sentencing decision that it appears that Ben David "was not in a psychotic state" at the time of his actions, adding he appeared "composed, eloquent, aware and explained the need for revenge" when he reenacted the murder with police investigators, footage of which was shown in Israeli media outlets recently.
Ben David had apologized to the family of Abu Khdeir during Tuesday's court session, prior to the sentencing, saying he "doesn't normally do this sort of thing," the Walla news website reported.
Family members of Abu Khdeir told the Channel 10 news following the sentencing that Ben David should have gotten the death sentence.
Israel does not hand out death penalties, with the exception of Nazi figure Adolf Eichmann, who was executed in Israel in 1962.
The defendants said they killed the Palestinian teen as they sought to "avenge" the kidnap and killing of three Israeli teens, which occurred a month before the murder.
The gruesome killing shook the country and triggered violent protests in Jerusalem and about half a dozen other Arab cities throughout Israel. Endit