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Photo: Jonathan Zur
John Good Yaboa
Photo: Jonathan Zur

IDF officer to compensate infiltrator he assaulted

In precedential ruling, military court orders major convicted of assaulting asylum seeker from Ghana to pay him NIS 1,500 in damages. 'I got a double punishment: I was beaten and I am in jail,' refugee tells Ynet

The Southern Command Military Court ordered an IDF officer in the rank of major to pay an African infiltrator he assaulted NIS 1,500 ($430) in damages, a precedential ruling in the army.

 

However, the court rejected the prosecution's demand to have the officer demoted, but recommended that his promotion be suspended.

  

In response to the officer's sentence the infiltrator, John Good Yaboa, told Ynet, "I am waiting to be released from prison and to get the compensation. I got a double punishment – I was beaten and I am in jail."

 

Yaboa expressed contentment at the officer being brought to justice: "He claimed he was trying to defend himself, but eventually admitted to the crime – and it felt good. He admitted he beat me and tried to kill me."

 

Yaboa claims he has been in prison for a month. Before the trial he was given a temporary stay permit until the sentence was declared. After the verdict, he told Ynet, he was sent to prison as he his stay permit was no longer in effect.

 

"If I don't get a stay permit I will leave Israel," he continued. "I am insulted by the treatment I received. The soldier abused my rights. I still don't know when I will be released or when I will receive my money."

 

'Office tarnished the IDF'

Several weeks ago, the officer was convicted of assaulting Yaboa, an asylum seeker from Ghana who was caught after infiltrating from Egypt into Israel in 2006.

 

According to the court's ruling, after apprehending Yaboa the officer questioned him and then slapped him on the face, punched him in the stomach and pointed a gun at him.

 

The army prosecutors claimed that the major has blatantly violated the laws of the state and IDF orders, and severely failed in fulfilling his duty.

 

"He has tarnished the IDF and the image of IDF soldiers in the eyes of the complainant… this is not the army we enlist to or stand behind," the prosecution claimed, and asked the court to sentence the officer to several months incarceration, fine him, order him to pay damages and demote him.

 

In his defense

One of the officer's family members, Colonel (res.) Mahana Canaan, told Ynet that he was astonished at the court's decision.

 

"It's very tough and unfair, and undeserving of a man who has given his life to the IDF for the past 17 years," he said, recounting a story in which the officer was injured in Gaza but would not give up his mission of killing a group of terrorists.

 

He added that in any case of infiltration a good soldier would act as the officer did. "If I had been in his place I would have made the same decision. He is a model officer."

 

Canaan spoke to the officer after he was sentenced, and said that the latter was hurt by the verdict. "I explained that he had to stay in the army; it's his place, although I understand his pain."

 

Canaan added that Israel should appreciate the Druze people for the role they play in furthering the country's security rather than cause unjustified harm to the officers.

 

The officers' defense attorney urged the judges to hand down a more balanced sentence, noting the officer's untarnished records and the fact that he is held to a high esteem by his commanders.

 

In their ruling the judges stated that the officer's actions were indeed unacceptable, but took into account his military service and the praises he received from his commanders.

 

The court ruled that the officer would not be demoted, but recommended that his promotion would be delayed in two years. He was also sentenced to 40 days' work in a military clinic.

 


פרסום ראשון: 04.21.08, 15:03
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