9-year sentence for acid attacker
Nazareth resident who deeply damaged teenage girl's victim confessed during plea bargain; victim awarded no damages
The Nazareth District Court sentenced a 51-year-old man to nine years in prison for pouring acid on a teenage girl's face in February, causing her to lose sight in one eye. The accused man confessed in a plea bargain; his identifying information will not be disclosed. The victim will not be awarded damages under the criminal case, but she is eligible to sue for damages through the civil court system.
The case started in 2012 when the accused – whose name the court placed under a gag order to prevent exposing the identity of the young girl – asked the victim's hand in marriage and was denied. The following year the defendant, with a minor from his family, threatened the teenager several times with bodily harm, death, and incineration.
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In February 2013, the accused was informed that the young girl was to be engaged to another man. He threatened her with death and incineration, arriving at her home that night. "The defendant knocked a few times on the bedroom window of the complainant," the verdict stated, "and when she opened the window, he poured hydrochloric acid on her face and fled the scene."
"Her family members, who responded to the noise, evacuated her to the hospital as she was suffering from internal burns in her upper respiratory system, causing an edema and forcing the doctors to induce a coma for several days. The pouring of the acid caused damage to the victim's eyes and she required successive surgeries in an attempt to save her eyesight."
Happiness lost
The accused admitted during the plea bargain to intent to cause injury and to the threats described above. The prosecutor, in turn, asked for a 15-year prison sentence.
The victim told Ynet Sunday that she was considering appealing the ruling. Several hours following the sentencing, the 17-year-old said: "he should have gotten at least 20 years. I'm disappointed with the sentence."
"Despite the fact that we've gone back to live in our house in Nazareth," the victim's mother said, "we feel our lives are still in danger. My daughter can't forget what she's gone through."
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Before the verdict, the court received a report describing the current condition of the victim who is suffering from "terrible pains, insomnia, and night terrors." According to the report, she has "lost her joy of life, has difficulties interacting with strangers, and is afflicted with low self-esteem." The editor of the report noted that because of the treatments and the pains the victim must wear dark glasses, "which emphasize her difference from her peers."
The judges mentioned that the actions of the accused were severe. In the verdict they wrote, "His actions were not committed in the heat of the moment, nor had there been incitement from his victim."
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