Court increases punishment of thugs hired by Topaz

The Supreme Court accepted the state’s appeal against the allegedly light punishment handed down by the TA District Court to 2 of the men hired by comedian Dudu Topaz

By DAN IZENBERG
Topaz court 311 (photo credit: Channel 2)
Topaz court 311
(photo credit: Channel 2)
The Supreme Court on Sunday accepted the state’s appeal against the allegedly light punishment handed down by the Tel Aviv District Court to two of the men hired by comedian Dudu Topaz to beat up three people he blamed for his failure to return to television.
The state’s appeals were aimed at Daniel Zenko, Topaz’s neighbor, and Suleiman Khiadra, the man Zenko hired to beat up one of the victims, Shira Margalit, who at the time was deputy director-general of Keshet, one of Channel 2’s franchise holders.
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On another occasion, Zenko also hired someone to attack Topaz’s former agent, Boaz Ben-Zion.
The Tel Aviv District Court sentenced Zenko to three years in jail, an additional suspended sentence, a fine of NIS 3,000 and ordered him to pay compensation to Margalit and Ben-Zion of NIS 20,000 each.
Khiadra was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail, a suspended sentence, a fine of NIS 3,000 and ordered to pay NIS 5,000 to Margalit.
The presiding justice in the Supreme Court appeal, Edmond Levi, ruled on Sunday that the sentences were too light.
“In their willingness to get involved in such shameful plots, the appellants demonstrated to all the ugly and dangerous side of their personalities,” Levi wrote. “In view of this approach, we feel that the punishments handed down... were very moderate and, in some cases, tended to be so lenient that this court must intervene.”
Levi sentenced Zenko to five years in jail and ordered him to pay NIS 40,000 each in compensation to Margalit and Ben-Zion. Khiadra’s prison sentence was increased to four years and he was ordered to pay Margalit NIS 20,000.