Lee Zeitouni
French report: Lee Zeitouni's killer sentenced to 18 months in jail
Eric Robic, who was driving the jeep that hit the young Israeli woman and killed her, was convicted of fraud; investigation of hit-and-run accident still ongoing.
A French national suspected of killing a young Israeli woman in a hit-and-run accident in Tel Aviv in September 2011 was sentenced to 18 months in prison, but not for killing Lee Zeitouni, French media reported on Sunday.
Eric Robic, who was driving the jeep that hurt Zeitouni, was convicted of fraud in a 2009 case and received a 35,000 euro fine. The French Jew was accused of stealing the identities of three large companies and deceiving shrimps merchants, stealing a total of 35,000 euro.
A source familiar with the investigation to a French news site that the French judge raised the concern Robic will try to flee France like he fled Israel after killing Zeitouni, a concern that was one of the decisive factors in the verdict.
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Roy Peled, Zeitouni's boyfriend and the head of the "Justice for Lee" foundation, said: "This arrest is a good and important thing and I'm hopeful that perhaps this time Robic won't be able to use his money and resources to get out again. To this day, over two years since Lee was run over, and this man has not yet been arrested, not even for a day, in connection with that offense."
Lee Zeitouni, 25, was killed while crossing the road in Tel Aviv at an early morning hour. A BMW jeep, in which French Jews in their early 40s Robic and Claude Isaa Khayat were sitting, hit her. After the accident, the two fled the scene and a few hours later, they fled Israel.
When they were arrested in France, the two admitted to the accusations attributed to them. Ever since, the French legal authorities have been conducting legal proceedings against them.
A short time after the accident, France's ambassador to Israel said it would not be possible to extradite the two to Israel, because the maximum punishment for the offenses they committed is higher than what they are facing in France.
Robic was already charged with aggravated manslaughter and failing to aide a person in danger.
Last month, Zeitouni's parents visited Paris and testified in front of the judge that is investigating the hit-and-run accident. The judge told the parents he intends to submit his conclusions soon, ahead of the opening of Robic and Khayat's trial.
The parents said, however, that the trial will likely not open before January 2015.
"We said what was on our hearts. We told (the judge) about life after the accident, about the hard feelings. How the accident happened and how these punks behaved, fleeing the scene," Zeitouni's father told Ynet.
"It was hardest to hear Kate, my wife, telling about her feelings, how our daughter, the young woman with the wonderful sense of humor, has now become a 'case.' A numbered investigation file," he added.
