Damian Kerlik in court (archives)
Photo: Dana Kopel
Kerlik denies murdering Ushrenko family
Head waiter accused of killing six members of his ex-employers' family pleads not guilty in court
Damian Kerlik, who has been charged with the murder
of the Ushrenko family members in Rishon Lezion last October, pled not guilty on Sunday morning, claiming he went to Taba after the murder for a vacation and not in order to flee Israel.
Kerlik's lawyer asked the Petah Tikva District Court to lift the gag order over the way he was arrested – the full details of which have yet to be published.
The indictments against the people involved in the Ushrenko murder were filed in November. Damian Kerlik was accused of brutally murdering the six family members, and the indictment – which details the dozens of times he stabbed his victims that night – also includes charges of robbery, conspiring to commit a crime, arson and break-in.
His wife Natalia, who allegedly helped him commit the murder, was accused of manslaughter, destroying evidence, conspiring to commit a crime and robbery.
Indictments were also filed against Damian's father Oleg, Natalia's sister Maria (Masha) Ilnich, and another relative – a 17-year-old girl indicted in a juvenile court. The three were accused of disruption of proceedings. Oleg Kerlik was also accused of destroying evidence, and the two women were accused of failing to commit a crime.
Police investigators located the couple's car in Eilat, broke into it and produced a DNA sample. The results were compared to DNA taken from a shirt found on the crime scene. Lab results received several days later pointed to a complete match.
