In the Lod District Court this morning (Sunday), the evidentiary phase of the shooting trial in the Ramla parking lot continued, which led to the murder of Ofir Hasdai because of a quarrel over parking.
Victor Katan, 76, the shooter who was charged with murder and is under house arrest until the end of the proceedings, came with his wife to court and testified for the first time that he did not intend to kill Hasdai and that this was a bullet ejection.
As previously reported, the 76-year-old Katan claimed in his defense that Hasdai had harmed his wife and so he got out of the vehicle and confronted him to protect her and that this was an act of self-defense.
He said he only wanted to threaten him to keep him away from his wife, and fired one non-lethal shot to alert however "since I suffer from high blood pressure and the hand is shaking accidentally, a second bullet was fired".
Katan's defense attorney, Adv. Avi Cohen, preceded the testimony, noting that "his client is a normative person with no criminal record and the gun was carried on a license and reiterated the claim that it was an unintentional bullet."
Katan accompanies his wife as he leaves the hall, Photo: Yehuda Peretz
Defense counsel focused on the defendant's medical condition and noted that "he got out of the vehicle and saw her arguing with a young guy. Suddenly he saw her on the floor and he did not know who the man was. Since he was without a hearing aid, he went out with the gun and shouted 'what are you doing' "
Defense counsel also focused on the illnesses of the defendant who suffers from asthma, diabetes and high blood pressure, which causes him headaches and tremors in his hands, symptoms that require him to take medication.
According to him, even the doctors do not know what causes the tremors in the hands.
Justices Liora Brody, Michal Barak Nevo and Michael Tamir addressed a number of questions to the defendant.
He explained to judges he had previously purchased a gun for self-defense that he had worked, among other things, as a taxi driver.
Small noted that he never used a handgun other than a range "only in this unfortunate case."
"The tremors in his hands continued and a bullet was probably fired"
According to Katan on the day of the incident: "He asked his wife to come down. In the meantime I started to get out, I saw her standing and she signaled that I had a parking space, I took a right and made a U-turn. The front wheel is part of the parking lot. I try to maneuver as close as possible to the car that will let me out. Suddenly I see that Monica is being beaten. My reaction is very fast and it raises my pressure. .
"As soon as she fell, I tried to scare him with the gun. I quickly pulled out the gun, threw the holster and probably stepped on the way, and then I got in between the two, between Ofir and Monica. I did not look at Monica, my eyes were on what he was going to do. Another second I saw he "I'm going to give her another blow. Without meaning to, I was close to him, two or three meters away, and then I shot him in the leg. I was very stressed when I saw him injured."
Little Victor.
Lod District Court hearing,
Katan referred to what happened after the first shot: "Apparently the finger was on the trigger. The tremors in his hands still continued and a bullet was probably ejected. I did not aim on purpose, if I wanted to shoot on purpose, I would not approach. Another 10 bullets in the gun. "
The judges referred to Katan's remarks and said: "You say a bullet was fired at me, the prosecution says you aimed at the chest. How will the judges know to determine what the correct version is?".
Small: "It's a question of word for word."
Adv. Cohen: "How will they know that you are telling the truth?"
Small: "I'm ready to answer in a truth machine."
The prosecution's cross-examination then began, led by attorney Einat Benita, who focused, among other things, on the pre-shooting. Katan reiterated that he saw his wife being attacked. The proof phase will continue in a few weeks.
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