Arik Karp's daughter: He begged for his life
Otelia Karp, whose father was murdered at Tel Baruch promenade in August, tells court of horrendous night. 'It was pure cruelty. They didn't care, on the contrary – it drove them on,' she says
Otelia Karp, daughter of Arik Karp, who was murdered at the Tel Brauch beach in Tel Aviv last summer testified at the Tel Aviv District Court Tuesday and related the events of the the horrible night she lost her father.
"They were like animals on the prowl, only it wasn't on National Geographic, it was my father," she said. She later recounted her pleas for help from passersby. "We met indifferent people; they looked at us as if we fell from the moon. It just took a long time until people gave us a phone."
The incident occurred on August 14 when Otelia and her parents strolled along the Tel Baruch beach. After sitting down on a bench, a man approached the three and addressed Otelia's father, Arik. "Dad didn't realize what was going on but decided to stand up. I thought the guy wanted a cigarette or to to rob us...Dad approached him for a few seconds, I couldn’t hear what he said and then he came back to the bench."
Murder suspects in court (Photo: Dalit Shaham)
Otelia said that her father avoided a confrontation with the assailants, who minutes later murdered him. "We didn't get a chance to ask him what happened, but he didn’t answer the guy or argue with him. There was no dialogue. He asked dad 'why don't you answer me.'
"Dad didn't reply and when we saw he wasn't answering we got up to leave. The guy phoned someone on his cell phone and spoke in Arabic. Mom said let’s walk quickly. A few seconds later a group of people came running up towards us. They ran over and simply tore dad away from us and dragged him towards the sea.
"I don’t know how to describe it, we tried approaching him, but mom fell on her hand and I was knocked over on my back. And then, while I lay on the ground, I looked to the left, dad was on the ground, his bare back to me - that's the image I see every night before I go to sleep."
Otelia told the court of the murderers' cruelty. "It was pure cruelty; I saw lots of kicking, punching, and fatal blows. He begged for his life. They didn't care, on the contrary - it drove them on. They were determined to do it.
"They came without hesitation, like someone just waiting for the opportunity to attack. They came on order, just waited for the order from whoever it was. Otherwise you can’t explain how they got there in a split second.
"All that he (Karp) managed to shout was my name so I would run. I didn’t, I went over to mom, she couldn’t get up. We cried for help but there was no one around. We slowly went to get help and all the while I looked back at dad, with the beating was still going on."
