Murderer escapes psychiatric hospital
Police search for Arnold Israelov, hospitalized since declared unfit for trial after stabbing taxi driver in 2007; family lawyer shocked with ease of escape
Arnold Israelov, 36, a resident of northern Israel who stabbed and killed a taxi driver in Kiryat Yam in 2007, escaped on Tuesday from the Shaar Menashe Mental Health Center near Pardes Hanna, where he was hospitalized since he was found unfit to stand trial.
Police have launched a search for him and have questioned two of his relatives.
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In November 2007, Israelov stabbed to death taxi driver Imad Huri, close to the taxi service station in
Kiryat Yam. Before he died, Huri managed to describe his attacker.
Murder scene (Photo: Doron Golan)
(Photo: Doron Golan)
Israelov was arrested a short time later wearing blood-stained clothes, and the murder weapon was found as well.
After his indictment, an expert opinion was filed with the court which determined he is unfit to stand trial.
Since then, Israelov has been hospitalized. Every six months a committee is convened to determine his eligibility to leave the premises for vacations, and has ruled againt it every time.
Israelov escaped the hospital around noon on Tuesday. The police started searching for him in the vicinity of Hadera, but has now shifted the search to the Haifa area.
The victim's family's lawyer, attorney Eli Saban, said that since Israelov's hospitalization the family arrived at the hospital every six months to object to his release for vacation.
Saban expressed his shock with the ease with which the man managed to escape. "In light of the
severity of his actions, he should have been under maximum surveillance, close to prison conditions."
Israelov's lawyer, Attorney Tomer Naveh, said his client has not contacted him in the last two days.
According to him, his client was angry at the victim's family for what he considered sabotaging his release.
The two relatives who were questioned are not related to the escape and Israelov has not contacted them, the lawyer said.
Huri's family refused to respond to this report.
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