Tel Aviv District Court Judge Maeyan Ben Ari today (Sunday) sentenced Lilach Vakanin, 45, from Tel Aviv, to 4.5 years in prison, who was convicted of manslaughter after she pushed her friend Galit Mizrahi into the road due to an argument about a drug debt. As a result of the push, a driver A motorcycle ran over Mizrahi, who died from her injuries a month later. On top of that, the judge ordered Vaknin to pay 40,000 shekels in compensation to the deceased's family.
Watch the footage of the push and run over in the video player.
"The accused not only pushed the deceased, but near the road, and from this we learn the significant risk-taking of the result," the judge wrote in the sentence.
"It cannot be ignored that she pushed the deceased in the back. We took into account her confession, both sides referred to the unusual personal circumstances of the accused such as her difficult childhood, and that since her arrest she has demonstrated motivation to make a significant change in her life."
Lilac and Kanin in court, photo: Avi Cohen
According to the indictment in which Vakanin was convicted about a year ago, Galit Mizrahi met the accused Lilach Vakanin near Yesod HaMa'ala Street in Tel Aviv-Yafo, and an argument arose between the two over a debt related to the purchase of dangerous drugs.
After a few minutes, the deceased walked on the sidewalk on Yosod Ha'Maale Street, with a lighted Vaknin following her.
The late Mizrahi went down to the road in order to cross it and stopped when she noticed a motorcycle approaching in her direction.
At this point, Vakanin approached the deceased, pushed her in the back and knocked her onto the road, while being aware of the possibility of vehicle traffic in the area and while taking an unreasonable risk of the possibility that the deceased would be hit by a passing vehicle and the possibility of causing her death as a result.
The deceased fell in the middle of the road and in the process the motorcycle hit her, and the deceased was left sprawled on the road.
The moment of the stampede, photo: Israel Police
According to the indictment, even when Lilich Vakanin noticed the motorcycle hitting Galit, she avoided helping her and walked away from the scene, taking the risk of possibly causing the deceased's death.
The motorcyclist who noticed this, followed her and prevented her from leaving the place.
As a result of Vaknin's actions, the rest was seriously injured, including multiple fractures in the ribs and vertebrae of the back, as well as a lot of bleeding in the brain.
The deceased was referred to a hospital for treatment, was operated on several times, anesthetized, ventilated, and about a month later, Mizrahi died from her injuries.
As part of a plea agreement, the parties agreed on the type of offense - reckless homicide - but not on the length of the detention.
Although the maximum sentence is 12 years in prison, the prosecution asked for a sentence of between 8 and 11 years in prison.
Also, the convicted person has a criminal record that includes violent offenses such as assaulting police officers, property offenses such as robbery as well as drug possession offenses.
In some of the past cases she was also sentenced to prison terms.
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