Life imprisonment and a fine of about a quarter of a million shekels in compensation were sentenced to the murderer of a 27-year-old man in Kiryat Yam

At the end of a long trial, it was determined that Maor Kahana Oononu, who was convicted of the murder of Maor Ben Haim in 2018, will compensate the widow of the deceased and his three children with the maximum amount stipulated by law, in addition to life imprisonment.

His accomplice, Ariel Vardinian, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and NIS 130,000 in compensation.

the judges

Yoav Itiel

10/31/2022

Monday, October 31, 2022, 10:01 a.m. Updated: 10:32 a.m.

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A 30-year-old man was shot from a passing scooter at the Yamit beach in Kiryat Yam;

His condition is critical (photo: Erupting News, editing: Shnir Dabosh)

The District Court in Haifa sentenced (Monday) life imprisonment and another 14 months of actual imprisonment to Kiryat Bialik resident Maor Kahane Oanonu "Kafka", 27 years old, for the murder of Maor Ben Haim, who was 27 years old at the time of his death.

He will also compensate the deceased's wife and three children with NIS 258,000, the maximum amount according to the law.

On his accomplice, Ariel Vardinian, 32 years old from Kirit Bialik, who lived in Tel Aviv at the time, the judges sentenced him to 15 years in prison and compensation of NIS 130,000 to the widow and the orphans. The two were charged with premeditated murder, weapons offenses and obstruction of justice. This, at the end of a long trial conducted by the Haifa District Attorney's Office through attorney Shelli Zaevi and attorney Segev Adler. The defense attorneys attorney Lior Bar Zohar and attorney Dan Gilad represented the two Attorney Tomer Ben Hamo from Legal Aid accompanies the family of the deceased in the proceedings.

Maor Kahana Ouanonu and his lawyer at the opening of the trial, September 7, 2018 (photo: Walla! system, Yoav Ityel)

The fatal incident took place on August 1, 2018, at Jacky's Beach Restaurant in Yamit Beach in Kiryat Yam.

A motorcycle arrived at the square next to the restaurant with two people on it - Vardinian who was driving and Kahane who was riding behind him.

Kahana got off the motorcycle and walked quickly with a helmet on his head to the terrace of the restaurant where a man had died.

Three were sitting at one of the restaurant's tables, one of them from the late Or Ben Haim. Kahane approached the table where the deceased was sitting, pulled out a gun and shot at him. The deceased tried to escape from Kahane but the bullets hit him and he collapsed and died a short time later.

Immediately after the shooting, Kahane fled by running towards the road, where Vardinian was waiting for him all the while on the motorized motorcycle.

Kahana got on the motorcycle and the two fled the scene with a quick drive.

They went to the Nahal Naaman reserve, where the two grew cannabis.

They parked the motorcycle near a thicket of bushes and hid there.

The police conducted an extensive manhunt for them, set up roadblocks and activated a helicopter in the air.

Following intelligence information, the police launched the helicopter over the Nahal Naaman Reserve and at the same time two detectives arrived at the scene.

This is an area with thick vegetation and problematic access roads and the night was dark.

The helicopter scanned the area from a high altitude to prevent its detection due to the noise, using various means of vision, including thermal.

At 23:30 two figures were located in the thicket, adjacent to the forest clearing.

After crawling through the thicket that surrounded the forest clearing, around 01:00 the detective force arrested the two in the tangled reserve, after they had made away with the gun and the shirt that Kahane was wearing at the time of the shooting and after partially burning, in the hiding place, the shirt that Vardinian was wearing during the murder incident.

More in Walla!

They shot at the restaurant - and fled into the forest: an indictment against the killers in Kiryat Yam

To the full article

Ariel Vardinian in court (photo: Walla! system, Yoav Itiel)

Kahana denied what was attributed to him and claimed that he was somewhere else at the time of the murder.

Vardinyan confirmed that he was riding a motorcycle, but added that he was not aware of the shooter's intentions.

Vardinian added that the shooter was not Kahane but another person, but refused to give his details on the grounds that he feared for his life and the life of his family.

Kahana and Vardinian gave their versions for the first time only when they testified in the trial, after they kept silent during their police investigations.

But, the judges ruled that "although it is a case based on circumstantial evidence, these join and coalesce into one clear picture, which establishes beyond any reasonable doubt the guilt of the defendants, each according to their factual and legal part."

They noted that the two "not only did not deny the incriminating assumptions against them or cast reasonable doubt on them, but that their testimonies and the lines of defense they took even strengthened the evidence of the accuser."

To this the judges added that "Indeed, certain evidentiary voids remain here and there, among other things and most unfortunately due to the lack of cooperation on the part of the deceased's brother as well as the deceased's friends. However, these voids did not harm the overall strength of the evidence against the defendants."

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