Farkhan's accomplice
צילום: חגי אהרון
Vicky Bennett after conviction: Not what I prayed for
Nazareth District Court judges accept plea bargain struck between prosecution and Y., accomplice of Yihiya Farkhan, who was convicted of murdering Dana Bennett. Accomplice confesses, convicted of being accessory to murder
The family of slain teenager Dana Bennett was outraged Thursday by the plea bargain struck between Y., murderer Yihiya Farkhan's accomplice, in which she was found guilty of being an accomplice to murder and will be sentenced to eight to 14 years in prison.
The Nazareth District Court accepted the plea bargain and convicted the young woman of two counts of accessory to murder. The sentence will be given at a later date.
Vicky, Dana Bennett's mother, said in a conversation with Ynet, about the reduced conviction handed to Y., who was initially charged with murder: "This is not what I prayed for. This is very difficult for me."
Vicky Bennett added that she knew the young woman would not be convicted of murder. "It was predictable. I knew the moment would come when they would tell me there will be a plea bargain, even though, from my perspective, she is a murderer. She made the first move. Had she not enticed Dana to enter the car, Dana would have reached home and continued on with her life. On the other hand, there are the arguments that the prosecution raised. I have a war being waged in my head between the logical and the emotional. I am distraught."
During the hearing, prosecuting Attorney Iris Shiran from the Northern District Prosecutor's Office detailed the prosecution's motives for striking a deal with the defense.
Y. in court Thursday. Family, 'Don't forget Dana's face' (Photo: Hagai Aharon)
"We took number main elements into account. The defendant's age when she committed the crime was 15. Her full cooperation with Israel Police from the beginning and all the way through the process without asking for or receiving anything in return. In addition, there is the fact that her cooperation ultimately revealed four affairs, three murder cases and one serious case of rape. It is very doubtful if the cases would have been solved without her cooperation."
Prior to the conviction, the panel of judges turned to Y. and asked her, as is customary in such cases, if she admits to the counts in the amended indictment and whether she is familiar with the various counts of the indictment. Y. nodded her head in consent.
The prosecution said that they will now focus on bringing Farkhan to justice.
An indictment was issued in June against Y. for the murder of Dana Bennett and in being an accessory to the murder of Sylvia Molrova. The original indictment described how Y. enticed Dana into Farkhan's car and later helped him get rid of her body.
Dana's father and his family sat in the courtroom and held up pictures of their loved one as the conviction was being issued. "She is a murderer, and we don't want her to forget her face. She should remember whom she had no mercy on," they said.
Sentence hearings will be held in January.
