25 years later: Soldier's murderers innocent?
Public Defender's Office says obtained new evidence which may acquit two brothers convicted of murdering 19-year-old Daphna Carmon of Haifa in June 1982. Request for retrial to be submitted to Supreme Court on Sunday morning
This evidence, the Public Defender's Office believes, may lead to an acquittal. A request for a retrial for the two brothers is expected to be submitted to the Supreme Court on Sunday morning.
The Public Defender's Office plans to hold a special press conference at 11 am Sunday to reveal the findings, which raise the fear that the two brothers suffered a serous miscarriage of justice and that their conviction was based on false admissions and police officers' lies.
In its request for a retrial, the Public Defender's Office says that it has managed to locate many pieces of evidence which were no presented at the court, neither during the original trial nor during the previous request for a retrial.
According to the Public Defender's Office, the evidence was collected from the investigation material reviewed by the defense, from material hidden from the defense and from inquiry files and other legal files regarding people involved in the affair, including police officers.
The four defendants at court in 1987 (photo taken from Yedioth Ahronoth archives)
The affair began on June 11, 1982, when Carmon, a 19-year-old soldier, left her home in Haifa together with her friend in order to visit their friends' parents. In the night, Carmon began making her way back home, but never reached the house.
Three weeks after her disappearance, a shepherd found her remains near the Usafia Junction in northern Israel.
The police struggled with the case, which took a surprising turn when Ahmed Kousli, one of the men suspected of murdering 14-year-old Danny Katz, offered information on Carmon's murder in exchanged for becoming a State witness. The information he gave the police led to the arrest of the Sabihi brothers and their cousin Atef Sabihi.
In 1987, the Haifa District Court found Ahmed Kousli, Atef Sabihi, Kamal Sabihi and Muhammad Sabihi guilty of the abduction, rape and murder of Carmon, and sentenced them to two consecutive life terms.
They appealed their conviction, claiming the confessions were coerced and the reenactment of the crime directed, but the Supreme Court rejected their appeal. A second appeal for a retrial was filed in 1999, which was denied yet again.
'Real killers still at large'
In October 2008, Ynet reported that the Public Defender's Office was looking into the possibility of submitting a new request on the matter. During the past few months, the public defender and her deputy examined new evidence which would be presented in the request for a retrial.
The Public Defender's Office has been privy to several claims made over the past few years, suggesting that Carmon's real killers are still at large.
Source in the Defender's Office have been quoted as saying the case was riddled with inconsistencies from day one, as any case based solely on the defendants' confessions must be doubly scrutinized.
Moreover, a legal source said that prior to obtaining the confessions, an additional man – believed unrelated to the case – confessed to the murder, but was later found to be mentally unstable.
"The four men's recollection of the events is remarkably similar to the fifth man's testimony. Surely that requires further investigation," said the source.
According to the Public Defender's Office, while the matter of the four is being thoroughly investigated, a petition for a retrial is still months away.
