Man charged with shooting friend over woodland tryst

Youth attempting to be alone with his girlfriend in the woods shoots his friend for interrupting them.

By JOANNA PARASZCZUK
Justice gavel court law book judge 311 (photo credit: Thinkstock/Imagebank)
Justice gavel court law book judge 311
(photo credit: Thinkstock/Imagebank)
The Haifa District Attorney filed an indictment in the district court on Wednesday, charging Mahmoud Arid, 22, from Jadeidi-Makr near Acre, with shooting a man for interrupting him during a woodland tryst with his girlfriend last month.
A second man, Arid’s friend and neighbor 23-year-old Omar Latiff, is charged with assisting Arid.
The victim, Rifat Taha, was hit by several bullets in his lower body and had to undergo surgery.
According to the indictment, last month Arid drove to the woods near Jadeidi-Makr with his girlfriend, to be alone with her.
Taha and his friend Hasham Sa’ad were riding a motor scooter through the woods, when they allegedly recognized the car Arid and his girlfriend were in.
Taha and Sa’ad began to watch the car, and Arid got out and yelled at them to go away, the indictment said. Allegedly, Taha left the scene, but soon afterwards returned with another man and the two began to watch Arid’s car again.
After Arid got out of the car and threatened the two onlookers, Taha and his friend left, the indictment said.
According to the indictment, Arid was furious at Taha and his friend for disturbing his chance to be alone with his girlfriend in the woods, and decided to go to the convenience store where Taha worked and get revenge.
Arid armed himself with a gun, the indictment said, and later that day, Latiff drove him and another man to Taha’s store in Jadeidi-Makr.
As Latiff and a third man looked on, Arid pulled out his gun and fired several shots at Taha’s lower body, intending to cause serious injury or disability, the indictment alleges.
Taha collapsed as several of the bullets hit him, and Arid and Latiff allegedly then fled, escaping in Latiff’s car.
Arid is charged under the Penal Code with acquiring and possessing an unlawful weapon and with carrying an unlawful weapon, which attracts a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment.
He is also charged with harm with aggravated intent, which attracts a maximum 20-year prison term.
Latiff is charged with being an accessory to a felony after the fact, which attracts a maximum three-year sentence. He is also charged with driving without a license.


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