The Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court recently convicted a defendant of committing a negligent use of fire, after she tried to end her life about a month ago.
Judge Shamai Becker ruled that even those who attempt suicide have a duty of care towards others: "He will be labeled a criminal."
According to the indictment, about a month ago, the defendant poured flammable liquid on the bed sheets at her home in Herzliya, lit a fire and left the apartment.
Meanwhile, the defendant caused a fire in the apartment and damage to the property intentionally and unlawfully, including the burning of the bed and the door of the room, heat damage to the wall and ceiling of the room, peeling plaster and disintegration of the floor covering.
"In her actions, the defendant committed an act of fire in a negligent manner that could endanger a person's life or cause him injury and also intentionally and unlawfully damaged property," the indictment concluded.
The defense admitted the facts of the indictment, but Advocate Yael Nissan and Advocate Satyo Cohen of the Public Defender's Office claimed that the defendant set her bed sheets on fire as part of an attempt to commit suicide, and therefore "there was a suicide attempt and there was no mental basis for criminal action "A person and it is claimed that he is guilty that this is a suicide attempt."
Meanwhile, the defense stated: "Choose here two parallel offenses of negligent use and malicious damage and one that is arson, two alternative offenses. Therefore the required mental element is criminal thought. There was no negligence for the offense of negligence either."
It was further argued that the indictment was also flawed or invalid in its view, "because in any case there is no offense of malicious damage, because it is its mattress, i.e .: a person is entitled to damage his own property."
Judge Shamai Becker who finally convicted the defendant of negligent use of fire noted in the verdict that even those who attempt suicide have a duty of care towards others.
"S.'s actions - lighting sheets on a mattress, after pouring flammable material on them, inside an apartment, light and material in a shared house with tenants, certainly when the lighter leaves the place and allows the mattress to ignite and cause damage to the apartment and building - embodies risk to life or damage" .
"A suicide bomber, or a potential suicide bomber, can not say 'after the flood.' "As a result of that arson, it could be said that this is not a criminal incident, just because it was committed by someone who tried, or even if she succeeded, to end her life?", Judge Becker concluded.
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